Distribution of Number, Location of Pain and Comorbidities, and Determinants of Work Limitations among Firefighters

Abstract

Introduction. The unique demands of firefighting results in acute, recurrent, or chronic pain complications. We aimed to describe the percentage distribution of number and location of painful sites among FFs and determine whether work limitations differed based on the number or location of painful sites, age, and/or sex. Methods. About 325 firefighters completed a work limitation questionnaire (WLQ-26) and a checklist to indicate painful regions of the body using either a paper format or an online survey. A one-way ANOVA was employed to analyze the transformed work limitation scores; this was a two-sided test with a significance level of <0.05, to determine if work limitations differed among firefighters based on the number or location of painful sites, age, and/or sex. Results. The data analyzed consisted of 325 ( men = 216 , women = 109 ) FFs in total. The percentage distribution of the number of painful sites in our study cohort was 43% no pain, 17% one painful site, 19% two painful sites, and 21% three or more painful sites. The percentage distribution of the locations of painful sites was 43% no pain, 41% spine, 9% lower extremity, and 7% upper extremity. An estimated 31% of FFs ( n = 102 ) reported non-MSK comorbidities with 23% ( n = 76 ) reporting at least one non-MSK comorbidity and 8% ( n = 26 ) reported having two or more comorbidities. FFs > 45 years of age experienced more physical work limitations than FFs ≤ 45 years (mean difference: 0.74/10; 95% CI .19-1.29; p = 0.008 ). Conclusions. The majority of firefighters reported having at least one painful site and indicated the spine as the most common painful location. Age, the number of painful sites, and location of pain were identified as a potential contributor to physical/mental and work output limitations.

Chronic Pain in Spanish Wildland Firefighters

“…The main finding of the present study was to determine the high prevalence of CP among Spanish WFFs analysed and the negative effect that length of service and age has on the probability of their suffering from CP. The prevalence observed (~60%) seem to be unaffected by the gender of WFFs, and in fact was very similar to what had previously been reported (~57%) in firefighters [8] and higher than that noted among other safety personnel (e.g., paramedics, polices, dispatchers) (~40%) [29]. One might think that the greater physical demands of the tasks performed by WFFs [1][2][3]30] would lead to a greater probability of CP [8], although Carleton et al [29] found a higher prevalence in paramedics and correctional officers (~45%) than those findings in firefighters (~35%).…”

“…The prevalence observed (~60%) seem to be unaffected by the gender of WFFs, and in fact was very similar to what had previously been reported (~57%) in firefighters [8] and higher than that noted among other safety personnel (e.g., paramedics, polices, dispatchers) (~40%) [29]. One might think that the greater physical demands of the tasks performed by WFFs [1][2][3]30] would lead to a greater probability of CP [8], although Carleton et al [29] found a higher prevalence in paramedics and correctional officers (~45%) than those findings in firefighters (~35%). This highlights the importance that other factors, such as age [16,31,32], length of service [31], work stress [16,29], physical fitness and subjects' anthropometrics features [16], might have on the appearance of CP.…”

“…Taking into account the previous recommendations established for healthy adults [27], physical activity was classified as low (≤3 h), moderate (3-7 h) and high (>7 h). Lastly, the body regions where CP was reported were grouped into the following categories [8,28]: (i) lower limb (LL), which includes hip, knee and ankle; (ii) upper limb (UL), including neck, shoulder, elbow, hand and wrist; and (iii) back, including lower back and thoracic spine.…”

“…Many studies have described the high probability of first responders becoming injured while performing their work [6][7][8][9][10][11]. It has been reported that one firefighter is injured every 8 min while on active service [11] and that approximately 20% of firefighters may become injured during their working day [12].…”

“…This chronic pain (CP) may end up affecting workers' quality of life and work performance [14], above all in the more physically demanding professions [15]. Thus, it has been reported that 33-40% of American firefighters have experienced some type of chronic back pain that has conditioned their professional work [8,16]. Although the use of heavy loads, performance of repetitive tasks and carrying of tools above the head has been linked to the probability of suffering from CP in male forestry workers [17], to the best of our knowledge, CP has not been studied in WFFs.…”