Low back pain as seen in orthopedic clinics of a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Background: Low back pain is not a specific disease though a common health concern worldwide. There is regional variation in its etiology and patterns of presentation. In West African sub-region, there are very limited data on this important aspect of low back pain. Objective: We aimed to determine the etiology and pattern of presentation of low back pain among patients seen in our orthopedic outpatient clinics. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective review of database of all new patients with low back pain seen at the orthopedics clinics of Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki between 2003 and 2013. Results: There were 2914 new patients seen in the orthopedic clinics u291 (10%) of them presented with low back pain. The female to male ratio was 1:1.04 and the mean age was 45.8 1.67 years. The mechanical low back pain was involved in 82.1% of the patients, and the incidence was significantly higher in females than males (53.1% vs. 46.9%, P 0.003). The males were significantly more afflicted than females by pain from spinal infections (58.3% vs. 41.7%) and tumors (92.3% vs. 7.7% P 0.003). Low back pain associated with radiculopathy was observed in 75 (25.7%) patients and the incidence was significantly higher in the married than the singles (30.2% vs. 13.9%, P 0.005). Lifting of heavy object was the most common predisposing factor of low back pain. Hypertension and peptic ulcer disease were two top medical co-morbidities while osteoarthritis of hip and knee was the most common associated musculoskeletal disorders. Conclusion: Low back pain of mechanical origin (recurrent and chronic in a significant proportion of patients) is predominant in our environment. This pattern calls for prevention as well as the early and appropriate care of the patient with low back pain.