Abstract
The aim of this review was to investigate the association between sedentary behaviour and low back pain (LBP) in adults. The following databases were searched for longitudinal studies from inception to July 2018: Medline, Scopus, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Web of Science. Pooled estimates of the association between sedentary behaviour (≥2 hours/day and ≥4 hours/day) and LBP, using the generic inverse-variance method with fixed- and random-effects models were calculated. Fourteen longitudinal studies were included, with 48,750 participants. Greater sedentary time (≥2 hours/day and ≥4 hours/day) was associated with lower prevalence of LBP (The pooled fully adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.91 (95%CI 0.86 to 0.98) and 0.92 (95%CI 0.86 to 0.99), respectively, compared with lower sedentary time (<2 hours/day). The sedentary time of ≥2 hours/day compared with <2 hours/day was associated with a 19% increase in LBP intensity and disability (OR = 1.19; 95%CI 1.05 to 1.36). The present meta-analysis of longitudinal studies indicates that sedentary behaviour is associated with lower prevalence of LBP. However, the results showed that sedentary behaviour was associated with higher LBP intensity and disability.