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Iwai, K., K. Nakazato, K. Irie, H. Fujimoto , and H. Nakajima. Med Sci Sports Ex 38 (5 (Supp)):S51, 2006.
Many athletes with low back pain (LBP) continue intense training under discomfort. Lumbar disc degeneration (LDD) is a common musculoskeletal injury among athletes with or without LBP. We previously showed that LBP and LDD are prevalent in collegiate wrestlers. Heavy body weight is one of the most common risk factor for LDD as well as LBP. At the 52 nd ACSM annual meeting, we reported that radiological abnormalities (RA) rather than LBP are related to weight categories in collegiate judo players. PURPOSE : This study examined the incidence of LBP and LDD in collegiate wrestlers. We investigated whether body weight has a relationship with LBP and LDD. Our study particularly focused on weight categories in wrestling. METHODS : The subjects were 51 collegiate wrestlers who were classified into three weight categories: lightweight category (54, 58, 63 kg, N = 27), middleweight category (69, 76 kg, N = 19), and heavyweight category (85, 97, 130 kg, N = 5). The incidence of LBP was estimated by using a questionnaire related to activities of daily living. Based on the questionnaire responses, a score of one and more points was denned as LBP in this study. In each individual, all lumbar discs from L1/2 to L5/S1 were evaluated by using a comprehensive grading system of LDD (Grades I-V). Grade III and greater were considered as LDD. The incidences of LBP and LDD were compared between the three categories by using the chi-squared test. RESULTS : In the study, the overall incidence of LBP was 41.2%. The incidence of LBP in the lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight categories was 40.7%, 36.8%, and 60.0%, respectively. The overall incidence of LDD was 39.2%. The incidence of LDD in the lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight categories was 25.9%, 52.6%, and 60.0%, respectively. Moreover, LBP and LDD coexisted in the three categories (18.2%, 42.9%, and 66.7%, respectively). We observed that heavier weight categories tended to show increased incidence of LDD and coexistence of LBP and LDD; this was similar to the results of our previous report in which RA but not LBP was related to weight categories in collegiate judo players. However, no significant differences were observed in all analyses in this study. CONCLUSIONS : There is a strong possibility that weight categories are related to LDD rather than LBP in wrestlers. Furthermore, greater coexistence of LBP and LDD was observed in heavier categories. Our findings demonstrated that body weight and/or weight category might play an important role in the evaluation of the prevalence of LBP and LDD.
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