PREVALENCE OF RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH NON-SPECIFIC BACK PAIN AMONG FEMALE PATIENTS IN AFIRM Samina Ghulam *, Amjad Sharif, Quratulain Saeed. Physiotherapy Department, Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Address for Correspondence:  Samina Ghulam, Physiotherapy Department, Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. E-Mail:  saminaghulam.sg@gmail.com Abstract: Introduction:    Back   pain   is   a   common   musculoskeletal   disorder   of   world,   the   most   frequent   back   pain   is   known   as   non   –specific   back   pain.   Majority   of   back pain   does   not   require   medical   care   and   resolve   itself   within   days   and   weeks   but   some   recurrent   and   severe   non-   specific   back   pain   need   management   and cure.   The   selection   of   intervention   depends   upon   the   cause   of   back   pain.   The   study   identified   the   association   of   physical   and   psychosocial   factors   and investigated the most frequent causative factor of non – specific back pain in female patients of AFIRM. Materials   and   Methods:    The   cross   sectional   study   was   conducted   in   AFIRM.   The   Keele   Start   Back   pain   screening   tool   was   used   to   collect   data   from   female patients   with   non-specific   back   pain,   who   came   in   physiotherapy   department   of   AFIRM   .The   tool   provided   the   brief   demographic   data   of   subjects   and described the disability and belief about their back pain. The tool is also divided the patients in to sub groups according to the level of risk. Our   study   identified   that   there   is   a   high   prevalence   of   psychosocial   factor   than   physical   factor   in   female   patients   with   non-specific   back   pain   of   AFIRM   and the large number of patients are at high risk than moderate and low risk. Conclusion:    The   research   will   help   to   clinician,   to   select   appropriate   and   accurate   for   cure   and   management   of   back   pain   it   will   also   help   to   prevent   back pain. There   is   a   need   to   conduct   study   in   both   genders   and   in   other   centers   of   region.   The   sample   size   should   be   large   and   study   time   should   be   long.   There   is also need to further identify particular physical and psychosocial factor like anxiety, depression etc KEY WORDS: Back pain, physical factors and psychosocial factors. References 1 . Nordin   NAM,   Singh   DKA,   Kanglun   L.   Low   Back   Pain   and   associated   risk   factors   among   health   science   undergraduates.   Sains   Malaysiana.   2014;43(3):423- 8. 2 . Hartvigsen   L,   Kongsted   A,   Hestbaek   L.   Clinical   examination   findings   as   prognostic   factors   in   low   back   pain:   a   systematic   review   of   the   literature. Chiropractic & manual therapies. 2015;23(1):1. 3 . Hay   EM,   Dunn   KM,   Hill   JC,   Lewis   M,   Mason   EE,   Konstantinou   K,   et   al.   A   randomised   clinical   trial   of   subgrouping   and   targeted   treatment   for   low   back   pain compared with best current care. The STarT Back Trial Study Protocol. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 2008;9(1):1. 4 . Falavigna   A,   Teles   AR,   Mazzocchin   T,   de   Braga   GL,   Kleber   FD,   Barreto   F,   et   al.   Increased   prevalence   of   low   back   pain   among   physiotherapy   students compared to medical students. Eur Spine J. 2011 Mar;20(3):500-5. 5 . Bhattarai   S,   Chhetri   HP,   Alam   K,   Thapa   P.   A   study   on   factors   affecting   low   back   pain   and   safety   and   efficacy   of   NSAIDs   in   acute   low   back   pain   in   a   tertiary care hospital of Western Nepal. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR. 2013;7(12):2752. 6 . Hill   JC,   Dunn   KM,   Lewis   M,   Mullis   R,   Main   CJ,   Foster   NE,   et   al.   A   primary   care   back   pain   screening   tool:   identifying   patient   subgroups   for   initial treatment. Arthritis Care & Research. 2008;59(5):632-41. 7 . Naude B. Factors associated with low back pain in hospital employees: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; 2008. 8 . Petersen   T,   Olsen   S,   Laslett   M,   Thorsen   H,   Manniche   C,   Ekdahl   C,   et   al.   Inter-tester   reliability   of   a   new   diagnostic   classification   system   for   patients   with non-specific low back pain. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy. 2004;50(2):85-94. 9 . Molano   S,   Burdorf   A,   Elders   L.   Factors   associated   with   medical   care ‐seeking   due   to   low‐back   pain   in   scaffolders.   American   journal   of   industrial   medicine. 2001;40(3):275-81. 1 0 . Kędra   A,   Czaprowski   D.   Epidemiology   of   back   pain   in   children   and   youth   aged   10 –19   from   the   area   of   the   Southeast   of   Poland.   BioMed   research internatio nal. 2013;2013. 1 1 . Koyanagi   A,   Stickley   A,   Garin   N,   Miret   M,   Ayuso-Mateos   JL,   Leonardi   M,   et   al.   The   association   between   obesity   and   back   pain   in   nine   countries:   a   cross- sectional study. BMC public health. 2015;15(1):1. 1 2 . Koes   BW,   van   Tulder   M,   Lin   C-WC,   Macedo   LG,   McAuley   J,   Maher   C.   An   updated   overview   of   clinical   guidelines   for   the   management   of   non-specific   low back pain in primary care. European Spine Journal. 2010;19(12):2075-94. 1 3 . Gilgil E, Kaçar C, Bütün B, Tuncer T, Urhan S, Yildirim Ç, et al. Prevalence of low back pain in a developing urban setting. Spine. 2005;30(9):1093-8. 1 4 . Hill   JC,   Dunn   KM,   Main   CJ,   Hay   EM.   Subgrouping   low   back   pain:   a   comparison   of   the   STarT   Back   Tool   with   the   Örebro   Musculoskeletal   Pain   Screening Questionnaire. European Journal of Pain. 2010;14(1):83-9. 1 5 . Hill   JC,   Whitehurst   DG,   Lewis   M,   Bryan   S,   Dunn   KM,   Foster   NE,   et   al.   Comparison   of   stratified   primary   care   management   for   low   back   pain   with   current best practice (STarT Back): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. 2011;378(9802):1560-71. 1 6 . Olivier   B,   Mudzi   W,   Mamabolo   M,   Becker   P.   The   association   between   psychological   stress   and   low   back   pain   among   district   hospital   employees   in Gauteng, South Africa. South African Journal of Physiotherapy. 2010;66(2):17-21. 1 7 . Galukande M, Muwazi S, Mugisa DB. Aetiology of low back pain in Mulago Hospital, Uganda. African health sciences. 2005;5(2):164-7. 1 8 . Thomas   E,   Silman   AJ,   Croft   PR,   Papageorgiou   AC,   Jayson   MI,   Macfarlane   GJ.   Predicting   who   develops   chronic   low   back   pain   in   primary   care:   a prospective study. Bmj. 1999;318(7199):1662-7.