Neck and shoulder pain in adolescents seldom occur alone: Results from the Norwegian Ungdata Survey

A breathing space: how young Norwegian women engaging psychomotor physiotherapy to address long-term health disorders narrate their experiences

INTRODUCTION

In Norway, as elsewhere, young people may experience psychological distress and long-lasting pain. Such health disorders can be complex, leading some young people to seek psychomotor physiotherapy treatment. Thus far, however, there has been little qualitative investigation of their experiences.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to gain new knowledge about the illness experiences of young people with long-term health disorders engaging psychomotor physiotherapy.

METHOD

Qualitative interviews with ten Norwegian women aged 16-24 in psychomotor physiotherapy were analyzed within a narrative framework.

FINDINGS

The participants' treatment experiences take place in the context of a long history of pain, distress, and lack of understanding and support. Their stories tell of being threatened by illness and other difficult life events, and of being placed under further stress by a prolonged and disruptive quest for help within the healthcare system. For participants, psychomotor physiotherapy represents a breathing space where their illness experiences are acknowledged, enabling them to find rest and explore their bodily reactions and habits.

CONCLUSION

Long-term health disorders represent significant disruptions to the daily lives and relationships of young women. It is important to acknowledge the illness experiences of these young women and establish trustful therapeutic relationships. Psychomotor physiotherapy may offer significant potential as a means to help young people explore and make sense of their illness experiences.

Pain in Adolescence: Maternal and Paternal Factors Affecting Adolescents' Pain in Norway-A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Pain in adolescence is considered a worldwide concern. Adolescents' pain affects family functioning. However, bidirectional associations should be considered as parental determinates such as pain, stress, and sociodemographic factors are also shown to influence pain in adolescence.

OBJECTIVES

This study explored the associations between maternal and paternal sociodemographic factors, pain, and stress and adolescents' pain, and stress on adolescents' pain.

METHODS

In total, 508 school-based Norwegian adolescents with a corresponding parent were included. All adolescents completed an electronic survey during school hours, and their respective parents responded electronically. The survey included sociodemographic data, the Perceived Stress Questionnaire, and the Brief Pain Inventory.

RESULTS

Herein, 385 adolescents reported an average pain of 2.1 (SD, 1.9), and 308 of the participating parents reported an average pain of 1.6 (SD, 1.8). Regressions stratified by parental gender revealed nonsignificant associations in fathers' study variables predicting adolescents' pain. However, having the highest maternal educational level (p ≤ 0.01) and working part-time (p ≤ 0.01) were associated with lower pain in adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study demonstrated that sociodemographic factors such as high educational status in mothers and mothers working part-time were associated with lower pain in Norwegian adolescents. These findings highlight the importance of a holistic approach to pain management in adolescence.

The Role of Stress Experience and Demographic Factors for Satisfaction with Life in Norwegian Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Trends over a Ten-Year Period

BACKGROUND

The individual's perception of life satisfaction (LS) is regarded as a key indicator of one's overall experience of wellbeing, sensitive to the broad spectrum of functioning. Adolescence is particularly an important period for assessing LS and factors associating with LS. The present study investigated cross-sectional trends in adolescents' LS levels across three time points over a 10-year period, as well as the role of stress experience and socio-demographic differences in association with LS.

METHODS

The study used cross-sectional data from three time points: 2011 (n = 1239), 2016 (n = 1233), and 2022 (n =311), including adolescents from lower and upper secondary public schools, with an age range of 13-20 years.

RESULTS

There were relatively high and stable mean scores on LS across all time points; however, significant differences were found between 2011 and 2016. Results from the multivariate linear regression analysis showed that sex and age were moreover weakly associated with LS, where LS decreased slightly between the ages of 13 and 18 years and increased from 19 to 20 years. Of the stress domains, interpersonal and school-related stressors showed the strongest negative and significant association with LS; significant interaction effects of sex by stress domains were found, but not with sex by time.

CONCLUSION

This study supports the relatively high and stable level of LS in adolescents across the investigated time points. Demographic factors were moreover weakly associated with LS. The findings also contribute by showing the significant role of interpersonal and school-related stressors in association with LS.

Accumulation of health complaints is associated with persistent musculoskeletal pain two years later in adolescents: The Fit Futures study

There is limited knowledge on the association between different health complaints and the development of persistent musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. The aims of this study were to assess whether specific health complaints, and an accumulation of health complaints, in the first year of upper-secondary school, were associated with persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later. We used data from a population-based cohort study (the Fit Futures Study in Norway), including 551 adolescents without persistent musculoskeletal pain at baseline. The outcome was persistent musculoskeletal pain (≥3 months) 2 years after inclusion. The following self-reported health complaints were investigated as individual exposures at baseline: asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic eczema, headache, abdominal pain and psychological distress. We also investigated the association between the accumulated number of self-reported health complaints and persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later. Logistic regression analyses estimated adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). At the 2-year follow-up, 13.8% (95% CI [11.2-16.9]) reported persistent musculoskeletal pain. Baseline abdominal pain was associated with persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later (OR 2.33, 95% CI [1.29-4.19], p = 0.01). Our analyses showed no statistically significant associations between asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic eczema, headache or psychological distress and persistent musculoskeletal pain at the 2-year follow-up. For the accumulated number of health complaints, a higher odds of persistent musculoskeletal pain at the 2-year follow-up was observed for each additional health complaint at baseline (OR 1.33, 95% CI [1.07-1.66], p = 0.01). Health care providers might need to take preventive actions in adolescents with abdominal pain and in adolescents with an accumulation of health complaints to prevent development of persistent musculoskeletal pain. The potential multimorbidity perspective of adolescent musculoskeletal pain is an important topic for future research to understand the underlying patterns of persistent pain conditions in adolescents.

Association between cannabis use and physical health problems in Norwegian adolescents: a cross-sectional study from the youth survey Ungdata

Background

Cannabis use is increasing among young Norwegians and several studies show a high incidence of common physical health problems. An association has previously been found between cannabis use and mental health problems. Since physical and mental health problems often co-occur, the aim of this study is to explore the relationship between cannabis use and physical health problems.

Methods

In 2017–2019, the Norwegian youth survey Ungdata collected data from 249,100 Norwegian adolescents, which equalled around 80% of all lower secondary school pupils (13–15 years) and about 50% of upper secondary pupils (16–19 years) in Norway. Descriptive analysis was used to calculate the prevalence of cannabis use and bi- and multivariate logistic regression analysis to examine the association between cannabis use and physical health problems, controlled for sociodemographics and mental health problems.

Results

Almost 10% of Norwegian adolescents had used cannabis once or more in the previous 12 months. The use of cannabis increased with age and it was more prevalent among boys. There is a clear connection between physical health problems and cannabis use (OR = 1.582 (CI: 1.527–1.638)) even after adjusting for sociodemographic variables and mental health problems (OR = 1.366 (CI: 1.312–1.423)).

Conclusion

More studies are needed to explore if there might a bidirectional relationship between cannabis use and physical health problems where physical problems increase cannabis use and cannabis use increases the risk of physical health problems. More knowledge on the effect of and motivation for cannabis use are important for policy makers and health care professionals involved in young people.

Low social acceptance among peers increases the risk of persistent musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. Prospective data from the Fit Futures Study

BACKGROUND

Musculoskeletal pain has a high prevalence in adolescence and causes huge consequences for the individuals and the society. Little knowledge exists on social risk factors for musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. This study aimed to investigate if low social acceptance among peers during the first year of upper secondary school was associated with persistent and severe persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later and if psychological distress modified this association.

METHODS

Longitudinal data from the Norwegian Fit Futures Study was used. Students in the first year of upper secondary school answered an electronic questionnaire, covering health status, pain, social acceptance among peers, and psychological distress. Persistent musculoskeletal pain was measured 2 years later. Multiple logistic regression analyses and moderation analyses were conducted adjusting for sex and chronic diseases. Main analyses were conducted on participants without persistent musculoskeletal pain at baseline, and secondary analyses were conducted on all participants with and without persistent musculoskeletal pain at baseline.

RESULTS

Of 775 participants (52% females), 556 (71.7%) were pain-free at baseline and included in the main analyses. Significant associations between low social acceptance among peers and persistent musculoskeletal pain 2 years later were found in crude (Odds ratio (OR) = 1.8, 95%CI [1.0-3.1]) and adjusted analyses (OR = 1.8, 95%CI [1.0-3.2]). No statistically significant effect modification of psychological distress (p = 0.89) on this association was found. A significant association between low social acceptance and persistent musculoskeletal pain was found in adjusted secondary analyses of all the students (n = 692) (OR = 1.6, 95%CI [1.0-2.3]).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that low social acceptance among peers increases the risk of future persistent musculoskeletal pain in adolescents. Thus, interventions strengthening adolescent's social arenas may be helpful to prevent persistent musculoskeletal pain.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Retrospective registered at clinicaltrials.org NCT04526522 .

Risk factors and risk profiles for neck pain in young adults: Prospective analyses from adolescence to young adulthood-The North-Trøndelag Health Study

The objective was to investigate risk factors and risk profiles associated with neck pain in young adults using longitudinal data from the North-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). Risk factors were collected from adolescents (13-19 years of age), and neck pain was measured 11 years later. The sample was divided into two: Sample I included all participants (n = 1433), and Sample II (n = 832) included only participants who reported no neck/shoulder pain in adolescence. In multiple regression analyses in Sample I, female sex (OR = 1.9, 95% CI [1.3-2.9]), low physical activity level (OR = 1.6, 95% CI [1.0-2.5]), loneliness (OR = 2.0, 95% CI [1.2-3.5]), headache/migraine (OR = 1.7, 95% CI [1.2-2.6]), back pain (OR = 1.5, 95% CI [1.0-2.4]) and neck/shoulder pain (OR = 2.0, 95% [CI 1.3-3.0]) were associated with neck pain at the 11-year follow-up. Those with a risk profile including all these risk factors had the highest probability of neck pain of 67% in girls and 50% in boys. In Sample II, multiple regression analyses revealed that female sex (OR = 2.2, 95% CI [1.3-3.7]) and perceived low family income (OR = 2.4, 95% CI [1.1-5.1]) were associated with neck pain at the 11-year follow-up. Girls and boys with a perceived low family income had a 29% and 17% higher probability of neck pain than adolescents with a perceived high family income. The risk profiles in both samples showed that co-occurrence of risk factors, such as headache/migraine, neck/shoulder pain, back pain, low physical activity level, loneliness, and perceived low family income cumulatively increased the probability of neck pain in young adulthood. These results underline the importance of taking a broad perspective when studying, treating, and preventing neck pain in adolescents.