Motor performance and back pain in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

• Published in: Systematic reviews 2020-09, Vol.9 (1), p.212-6, Article 212
• Main Authors: Noll, Matias, Wedderkopp, Niels, Mendonça, Carolina Rodrigues, Kjaer, Per
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age groups; Back Pain; Back pain; Cardiorespiratory Fitness; Case-Control Studies; Child; Clinical practice guidelines; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Health promotion; Humans; Male; Meta-analysis; Meta-Analysis as Topic; Motor ability; Pain; Pediatrics; Physical fitness; Protocol; Psychomotor performance; Research Design; Systematic review; Systematic Reviews as Topic; Teenagers; Young adults
• ISSN: 2046-4053; 2046-4053
• DOI: 10.1186/s13643-020-01468-6

The relationship between motor performance and back pain in children and adolescents remains unclear. This article describes the protocol for a systematic review to summarize the knowledge about the association between motor performance, such as agility, flexibility, balance, strength, muscle endurance, and cardiorespiratory fitness, and back pain. Thus, our aim is to identify the influence of motor performance on back pain among children and adolescents. Two independent researchers will search MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, SPORTDiscus, and CINAHL databases, with no period or language restrictions. We will include cross-sectional, cohort, case-control, and controlled clinical trial studies based on the following criteria: (a) participants from 6 to 19 years of age, (b) assessment of motor performance, (c) assessment of back pain, and (d) report measures of associations between motor performance and back pain. Study quality and risk of bias will be assessed using an adapted version of the Downs and Black instrument. Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations will be used to assess the strength of the body of evidence. Meta-analyses of association measures will be performed for each type of motor performance, separately for different study types. The results will be reported using forest to show the pooled effect of findings and funnel plots to assess precision of the data. If studies are not homogeneous, results from the meta-analyses will not be reported. Associations will then be synthesized descriptively using a pragmatic approach. This systematic review will provide critical insights into the association between motor performance and back pain among children and adolescents; this information may help support clinical practice guidelines as well as public health programs. Protocol was written according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). PROSPERO CRD42020178496.