Risk factors for the onset of non-specific neck pain: a systematic review
One article on PainSci cites McLean 2010: The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks
PainSci commentary on McLean 2010: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.
This paper is quite similar to Paksaichol et al, especially in that they focused on prospective studies, but it is two years older and not as picky. The complete list of risk factors with “strong” evidence according to McLean et al is “older age, female gender, high job demands, low social or work support, being an ex-smoker, a history of low back disorders and a history of neck disorders”; they specifically called out the lack of evidence regarding “many clinical, physical, psychological and socio-demographic variables.”
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
OBJECTIVE: Neck pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder, but little is known about which individuals develop neck pain. This systematic review investigated factors that constitute a risk for the onset of non-specific neck pain.
DESIGN AND SETTING: A range of electronic databases and reference sections of relevant articles were searched to identify appropriate articles. Studies investigating risk factors for the onset of non-specific neck pain in asymptomatic populations were included. All studies were prospective with at least 1 year follow-up.
MAIN RESULTS: 14 independent cohort studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. Thirteen studies were assessed as high quality. Female gender, older age, high job demands, low social/work support, being an ex-smoker, a history of low back disorders and a history of neck disorders were linked to the development of non-specific neck pain.
CONCLUSIONS: Various clinical and sociodemographic risk factors were identified that have implications for occupational health and health policy. However, there was a lack of good-quality research investigating the predictive nature of many other variables.
related content
- “Office workers' risk factors for the development of non-specific neck pain: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies,” Paksaichol et al, Occup Environ Med, 2012.
- “The impact of workplace risk factors on the occurrence of neck and upper limb pain: a general population study,” Sim et al, BMC Public Health, 2006.
- “Physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in New Zealand nurses, postal workers and office workers,” Harcombe et al, Inj Prev, 2010.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.
- Is there a relationship between throbbing pain and arterial pulsations? Mirza 2012 J Neurosci.