Abstract
Background: Low back pain is defined as activity limiting low back pain that may or may not be associated with pain referred into the lower limbs. Its prevalence in Saudi Arabia in a systematic review ranged from 53.2% to 79.17% among the general population.
Objective: To measure the prevalence of low back pain among medical students at Al-Baha university, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study that has utilized an online form to obtain responses from April to mid-June 2018. The online form had an introduction explaining the purpose of the study and giving the participant the choice of filling the form or not. After the collection, data were entered and analysed by (SPSS version 21.00).
Results: The total of responses has reached (163). The majority were males (74.8%), Only (0.6%) were married, with a mean age of (21.76 +/- 4.08). The overall prevalence of low back pain (52.1%). (16.5%) of the students who have had low back have missed lectures due to the pain. There was a significant association between the positive psychological history and low back pain (P-value = 0.01). Patients suffering from the disease have indicated long hours of studying.
Conclusion: Half of the medical students in Al-Baha university have had low back pain which has caused some to miss lectures. Low back pain is common and can present with psychological complaints. Therefore, further researches should be done to identify the role of psychological problems in low back pain.