• Weber SA

• Adolescent
• Affiliation / European Chiropractors' Union. European Academy of Chiropractic
• Affiliation / Royal College of Chiropractors (UK)
• Affiliation(G) / Sweden / Stockholm
• Child
• Headache
• Musculoskeletal Pain
• Neck Pain
• Observational Studies as Topic
• Open Access Document
• Parents
• Pediatric Chiropractic
• Self Report
• Surveys and Questionnaires / Sweden

Background: The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain changes significantly between pre-adolescence and adolescence. It is nclear whether parent proxy reports and child report of pain and trauma are concordant. This study investigated the respective agreement between pre-adolescents and their parents in reporting head and/or neck trauma and recurrent neck pain and/or headache.

Methods: This cross-sectional observational study formed part of a study carried out to ascertain the prevalence of non-specific neck pain and/or headache in 131 Swedish pre-adolescents. Information was gathered from a questionnaire completed in school, and an informed consent with additional questions for the parents.

Results: All of the students (n=131) who were approached to participate in the study agreed to complete the questionnaire. Of these, 40% (n=52) reported that they experienced neck pain and/or headaches with 31% (n=41) reporting the frequency was “often.” The parental report differed with 6% (n=8) of parents acknowledging that their child often had neck pain and/or headache. Similarly, 61% (n=80) of children reported trauma to the head/neck while 20% (n= 26) of the parents reported that their child had experienced trauma to the head and/or neck region.

Conclusion: Neck pain and/or headache in this group of Swedish pre-adolescents were common, as was previous trauma to the head or neck. Most of the parents were unaware that their child often had neck pain and/or headache or had suffered head or neck trauma. This discordance should be further explored to better understand the change in reporting pain from pre-adolescence to adolescence. 

Author affiliations: Chairperson EAC SIG Paediatrics, FEAC (Faculty European Academy of Chiropractic), FRCC (Faculty Royal College of Chiropractors), Stockholm, Sweden 

This excerpt is reproduced with the permission of the publisher. Click on the above link for free full text.