An Outpatient-based Survey about the Recognition of Locomotive Syndrome and the Results of the Loco-check at a University Hospital in Tokyo
Taketo Okubo
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Yoshiyuki Suehara *
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Takayuki Kawasaki
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Keisuke Akaike
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Midori Toda
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Naoko Okubo
Department of Health Science, Juntendo University School of Health and Sports Science, Japan.
Daisuke Kubota
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Kenta Mukaihara
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Yongji Kim
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Takafumi Kaketa
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Yasuhiro Homma
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Norio Shimanouchi
Department of Health Science, Juntendo University School of Health and Sports Science, Japan.
Tsuyoshi Saito
Department of Human Pathology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Tatsuya Takagi
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
Kazuo Kaneko
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Japan.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: To prevent locomotor dysfunction, the Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) proposed the concept of locomotive syndrome (LS) in 2007, and has carried out many campaigns to increase the awareness of LS. Recently, the JOA reported that 26.6% of people recognized LS in internet based surveys. However, a survey of the recognition of LS using outpatient (hospital-based) cohorts has never been performed. Therefore, we surveyed the recognition of LS, the prevalence of LS and any correlations between LS and the clinical data in the outpatient cohort.
Methods: To investigate the recognition of LS and prevalence of LS, we conducted a questionnaire survey including the “loco-check” in 1010 (429 male and 581 female) orthopaedic outpatients at Juntendo University Hospital (Tokyo, Japan) from April to June 2013.
Results: Only 24.6% of the patients knew about the concept of LS. In terms of the media sources from which the patients had received information about LS, 49.5% received LS information from TV. With regard to the prevalence of LS, 43.8% was classified into the LS group. The prevalence of LS was 32.9% in males and 51.8% in females. When the relationship between LS and orthopaedic disease was examined, 50 of 55 (90.9%) knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients, 21 of 26 (80.8%) hip OA patients and 98 of 151 (64.9%) lumbar spondylosis patients had statistically significant correlations with LS (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: This study confirmed the rate of recognition of LS indicated by the JOA survey. Our studies also revealed that LS score was related to orthopaedic disorders. Our outpatient-based surveys may help provide a better understanding of the effects and trends of the campaigns to promote the recognition of LS.
Keywords: Locomotive syndrome, orthopedics, health promotion, loco-check.