Prevalence of asymptomatic sacroiliac joint dysfunction and its association with leg length discrepancies in male students in selected junior secondary schools in Ibadan

Abstract

Sacroiliac joint dysfunction (SIJD) and leg length discrepancies are commonly associated with each other and the two entities are often implicated as possible precursors of a number of musculoskeletal disorders in the general population. This study investigated the prevalence of asymptomatic sacroiliac joint dysfunction (ASIJD), leg length discrepancy (LLD) and the association between the two entities in male students in selected junior secondary schools in Ibadan. Two hundred and three male junior secondary school students aged 10- 15 years participated in this study. Participants were screened for SIJD using four standardized palpatory tests and for real and apparent leg length discrepancies using standardized tape measure techniques. Chi-square test was used to investigate the association between ASIJD and prevalence of LLD at alpha level of 0.05. The prevalence of ASIJD among participants in this study was 21.7%. Sixty-five percent and 52.0% of the participants had real and apparent LLD >0.5cm respectively. The 26.0% prevalence of ASIJD among participants with real LLD > 0.5cm was significantly higher than prevalence in those with apparent LLD. We concluded that one out of every live male students in the study population had ASIJD and this was significantly associated with RLLD.