2025/12/16 by Katalin Jánkné Bacskai, Klára Soltész-Várhelyi, Judit Lám · 1 voice
Medicine · #Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation #Sports injuries and prevention #Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology
paper · doi:10.1556/2066.2025.00087
openalex publication_date 2025/12/16 · openalex created_date 2025/12/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Abstract Purpose Lower back pain is one of the most common problems among athletes. At international level, regardless of the sport, 20% of adult athletes and 10–15% of adolescent athletes report lower back pain. This rate is steadily increasing, even with the invasive and non-invasive therapies currently available. In Hungary, 24% of national team athletes consult a physiotherapist for ongoing lower back pain, and more than half of these athletes (56%) report persistent pain. There is a growing emphasis on prevention in international and national sports health, but for these programmes to be successful we need to know the source of the problem. Materials and methods We assessed the prevalence of non-specific lower back pain in Hungarian national team athletes. During our survey, we paid particular attention to pain experienced during the competition period, as well as pain intensity. We examined a total of 770 athletes, 184 of whom had undergone physiotherapy. Results Our results show that the prevalence of non-specific lower back pain is high among elite athletes and is also strongly associated with the type of sport, χ 2 (1) = 14.17, P = 0.007, φ = 0.13, and gender, B = 0.42, P = 0.004, OR = 1.53. Conclusion Lower back pain is common among elite athletes and significantly affects both performance and quality of life. Our research confirms that both gender and type of sport have a significant influence on the development of lower back pain, particularly among athletes involved in combat sports. Given the high prevalence of lower back pain, prevention becomes even more crucial.