An epidemiologic study of sports and weight lifting as possible risk factors for herniated lumbar and cervical discs. The Northeast Collaborative Group on Low Back Pain.

The associations between participation in several specific sports, use of free weights, and use of weight lifting equipment and herniated lumbar or cervical intervertebral discs were examined in a case-control epidemiologic study. Specific sports considered were baseball or softball, golf, bowling, swimming, diving, jogging, aerobics, and racquet sports. Included in the final analysis were 287 patients with lumbar disc herniation and 63 patients with cervical disc herniation, each matched by sex, source of care, and decade of age to 1 control who was free of disc herniation and other conditions of the back or neck. Results indicated that most sports are not associated with an increased risk of herniation, and may be protective. Relative risk estimates for the association between individual sports and lumbar or cervical herniation were generally less than or close to 1.0. There was, however, a weak positive association between bowling and herniation at both the lumbar and cervical regions of the spine. Use of weight lifting equipment was not associated with herniated lumbar or cervical disc, but a possible association was indicated between use of free weights and risk of cervical herniation (relative risk, 1.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.74 to 4.74).