Background: The Standardised Nordic Questionnaire (SNQ) is an instrument to analyse the musculoskeletal symptoms in an ergonomic or occupational health context. We aimed to cross-culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the SNQ among Spanish musicians. Methods: Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric validation (reliability, validity, and feasibility) was performed. Reliability was analysed by test-retest reliability (Cohen's Kappa) and internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson). Content and face validity were measured by the Expert Committee and the opinion of participants. Construct validity (Mann-Whitney U test) was measured by comparing with questionnaires used to assess pain and disability in neck, shoulders, upper back, and low back regions. Feasibility was calculated with the average response time. Results: A total of 312 Spanish musicians were included. The Spanish version of SNQ achieved good semantic, conceptual, idiomatic, and content equivalence. For most of the variables, test-retest reliability was good to very good (k = 0.60-0.81). The internal consistency showed good to acceptable (Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR20) = 0.737-0.873). Participants with versus without musculoskeletal problems in a related region showed significantly higher disability/pain, indicating a good construct validity. About the feasibility, the average response time of the questionnaire was 6 min (±2). Conclusions: The results show that the Spanish SNQ is reliable, valid, and feasible screening tool to assess musculoskeletal problems among musicians.Playing-related 12-month prevalence ranged between 62% and 93% [3]. The neck, shoulders, and low back were the most frequently affected regions [3,4].Thus, the evaluation of playing-related musculoskeletal disorder in the musician´s occupational context is an important outcome, in order to quantify, classify, and design an adequate treatment. The most commonly used instrument to detect the musician with symptoms is the Standardised Nordic Questionnaire (SNQ) [5][6][7][8][9].The SNQ was developed in 1987 by Kuorinka et al. from a project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. It is an internationally self-administered questionnaire designed to evaluate musculoskeletal problems in an ergonomic or occupational health context. It consists in two parts: The general part and the specific lumbar, neck, and shoulders questionnaires. The SNQ has proved to be a valid, reliable, and feasible tool that allows for comparison of musculoskeletal problems among different anatomical areas in epidemiological studies [10]. With these studies, specific health promotion and prevention measures can be designed for each work environment. In general, it shows a good concordance with the functional clinical evaluation, but it should not be used as a tool to confirm the diagnosis of a disorder or a pathology, because it presents an important amount of false positives [11].The SNQ has been adapted and validated to other languages [11][12][13][14][15][16][17], but the Spanish version has not ...

Background: Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders are the most frequent complaints among instrumental musicians. The aims of this study were: to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain; to evaluate neck, shoulder, and lower back disability; and to determine the associated factors with the presence of musculoskeletal pain among musicians. Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted. We selected Spaniard musicians over 16 years old who played a musical instrument for at least five hours per week. They answered the Spanish versions of the Standardised Nordic Questionnaire, the Oswestry Disability Index, Neck Disability Index and Shoulder Pain and Disability Index. Results: We found 94.8% of musicians presented at least one symptomatic region in the last 12 months, and 72.3% in the last seven days. Female musicians (OR 4.38, CI 2.11−9.12), musicians with overweight or obesity (OR 5.32, CI 2.18−12.97), and musicians who play more than 14 h per week (OR 3.86, CI 1.80−8.29)were shown to be a higher risk of suffering musculoskeletal pain. Conclusions: Musculoskeletal disorders symptoms are highly prevalent in musicians. The main risk factors related to musculoskeletal disorders symptoms were gender (being female), overweight, obesity, and spending playing more than 14 h a week practicing. This study highlights the need to provide strategies to prevent occupational disabilities among musicians. Further studies are needed to analyse the prevalence of pain in the musician using other sampling methods.

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