Correlation of magnetic resonance imaging findings in low back pain patients with daily travel time and mode

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the major worldwide cause of pain and it is caused mainly due to long day sedentary work style in office and long hours of travelling in metro cities. The aim was to correlate the association of LBP with increase in time of travel and different modes of travel in metro cities. Methods: Of all the LBP patients referred from orthopedic outpatient department to Radiology Department for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) spine, 200 cases of those who travelled minimum 2 h daily and more were considered for this study. Results: The results showed correlation of increase in incidence of degenerative changes in spine and changes in disc with increase in travelling time and also the different modes of travel. The changes increased with time significantly in younger population. Conclusions: In our study of 200 patients complaining of LBP and having changes is spine reported on MRI showed reliable association of the LBP to the daily travelling of minimum 2 h and more, and associated with mode of travel, particularly two wheelers followed by public transport.