Prevention and treatment of back pain in Spanish general press

Abstract

Introduction: Due to its great socioeconomic repercussions, back pain represents a major public health problem. The Internet is one of the primary sources of information for people with back pain. Objectives: To describe and analyze the recommendations in the Spanish general press about the prevention and treatment of back pain, as well as to evaluate its sources and the explanations on the concept "pain". Methodology: Content analysis of articles published in the digital version of El País, El Mundo, ABC and La Vanguardia. Results: 56 articles were found. The most frequent recommendations are: physical exercise (84%), ergonomic strategies (64%), lifestyle change (34%), visiting specialists (21%), acute analgesia treatments (16%) and pain education (8%). The most prevalent sources are specialists. Explanations of pain are very rare. Conclusions: Some of the recommendations offered in newspaper articles do not have sufficient scientific evidence and derive from unreliable and outdated sources. It is necessary that those responsible for this type of articles use quality sources, are more critical of the selected data and ensure that the information offered is supported by the actual scientific evidence.