Exercise, fitness and musculoskeletal health of undergraduate nursing students: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

Aims:To describe the exercise, physical fitness and musculoskeletal health of nursing students.Background: Nursing students are prone to musculoskeletal disorders restricting work ability. Physical fitness and leisure-time exercise may affect responses to workplace exposures and risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Design:A cross-sectional study. Method:Between August 2013 and April 2015, a convenience sample of 111 nursing students performed submaximal exercise tests. Nursing work, exercise and musculoskeletal health were surveyed and analysed descriptively.Results: Students' mean age was 30.0 years, 89.2% were female and 20.0% worked in nursing while studying. Highest annual prevalence of musculoskeletal trouble was in low back (45.6%), neck (32.0%) and shoulder (18.5%) regions. Most exercised regularly but did not meet weekly cardiorespiratory, resistance, neuromotor and flexibility exercise recommendations and had poor to average fitness levels. Approximately 40% were overweight or obese; 26.1% had risk for obesity-related disease. Conclusions:Interventions to improve nursing students' physical condition before entering the nursing workforce appear warranted. Impact: Imbalance between physical work capacity and demanding workloads increases musculoskeletal disorder risk amongst undergraduate nursing students. A large proportion studied reported recent musculoskeletal trouble (particularly low back, neck and shoulder). They exhibited modifiable characteristics of overweight/ obese, poor fitness and inadequate leisure-time exercise, predisposing them to workrelated musculoskeletal disorders. Undergraduate preparation should raise nursing students' health literacy about physical fitness and ways to achieve it, for their | 2111 PUGH et al.

Body Composition, Physical Fitness, Nutritional Habits and Knowledge About Food and Nutrition in Female Students of Physical Education and Medicine-Related Courses

“…The results of our research confirmed the fact that PE students demonstrated higher levels of physical fitness than the students of medicine-related courses. Pugh et al (2019) and Stephens, Cochran, Hall, & Olsen (2012) dealt with the assessment of physical fitness and performance among students of medicine-related courses from Australia and USA and concluded that their physical fitness is insufficient and its improvement may increase their readiness for future work.…”

Identification and estimation of physiological workload in nursing: Concepts, methods and gaps in the literature

“…Questionnaires aimed at collecting the main biometric and demographic data from the participants were used by most of the articles analyzed. The Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, which aims to identify the workrelated pains reported by workers, was used by Åkesson et al (2012), Almhdawi et al (2017), Bazazan et al (2019), Dalager et al (2019), Heidari et al (2019), Pugh et al (2019), Svensson et al (2008) and Veiersted et al (2008). Finally, other authors used other questionnaires, such as the Work Organization Assessment Questionnaire -WOAQ (Oakman et al, 2014), the Siegrist's Effort Reward Imbalance Questionnaire -ERI (Uusitalo et al, 2011) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale Questionnaire.…”

“…Bazazan et al (2019), Dalager et al (2019), Greaves et al (2018), Uusitalo et al (2011) used scales related to the participants' emotion during their working hours to research workers' main feelings when performing tasks. Using workers' opinions in subjective scales of effort, Dalager et al (2019), Greaves et al (2018), Liu et al (2018), Oakman et al (2014) and Pugh et al (2019) measured the amount of workload demanded during tasks based on energy spent.…”

“…To estimate posture-related load, researchers used measuring instruments such as inclinometers (Åkesson et al, 2012;Hansson et al, 2009Hansson et al, , 2010Hodder et al, 2010;Veiersted et al, 2008), flexometers (Pugh et al, 2019) and goniometers (Åkesson et al, 2012;Le and Marras, 2016), to measure body angulation of people who are working. Also, electromyography (EMG) was used to verify the electric current passing through the muscles (Åkesson et al, 2012;Brandt et al, 2015;Hansson et al, 2009Hansson et al, , 2010Veiersted et al, 2008).…”

“…Regarding heart rate, we found measuring devices such as the electrocardiogram (ECG), used in the studies of Charles and Nixon (2019) and Chen et al (2011), and heart rate monitors (Balderrama et al, 2010;Le and Marras, 2016;Pugh et al, 2019;Uusitalo et al, 2011). From the data obtained, the nurses' workload can be measured by the amount of energy spent because the higher the heart rate during activities, the higher the energy expenditure will be.…”