Do Kinesiology Students Think Differently About Low Back Pain? Low Back Pain and Spinal Health Beliefs Across University Academic Programs

Abstract

Low back pain is influenced by physical, lifestyle, and psychological factors. Education in human health is linked to improved outcomes in disability and pain. A survey of 201 undergraduate students documented self-reported low back pain and examined how program specialty, including kinesiology, impacted pain reporting and psychological factors. Compared with business and psychology students, kinesiology students more strongly believed that low back pain is avoidable, reported greater control over back pain without the use of medication, and placed greater importance on controlled, technique-based lifting in preventing back pain, and these differences persisted after adjustment for sex, year of study, site and physical activity. These findings suggest that academic program, whether through curricular exposure or self-selection, may be associated with students’ beliefs about low back pain.