Impact of lockdown on musculoskeletal health due to COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh: A cross sectional survey study

Abstract

Background During the nationwide lockdown implemented by the government of Bangladesh due to the coronavirus, has led to the various changes in the overall activities and lifestyle. Most of the people began living a sedentary lifestyle, spending more time on their phone, watching television and excessive sleeping. Reduction of physical activity level had profoundly negative impact on musculoskeletal health. Aim This study aims to investigate the impact of lockdown on musculoskeletal health, association between leisure and musculoskeletal pain during this period. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted among general populations living in a specific area of Bangladesh by simple random sampling methods. A total of 230 participants both male (182) and female (48) age group between 18-60 years have participated. The study was carried out by sending the Google Form link containing demographic questionnaire, numeric pain rating scale and Nordic musculoskeletal Questionnaire. Wilcoxon sign rank t and Chi squire test was used to analyze the data. Results The mean height, weight and BMI of the participants were 164.17 ± 8.40 cm, 63.82 ± 10.70 kg and 23.74 ± 3.97 kg/m 2 respectively. There was significant increase in time spent in watching television (p= < 0.0001), using smartphone (p= < 0.0001) and sleeping (p= < 0.0001) during the lockdown period. 33.9% participants had pain before the lockdown which increased by 57% during the lockdown periods. There was a significant association between pain intensity and sleeping time (X 2 = 54.84; p= < 0.0001), time spent watching television (X 2 = 83.70; <0.0001), time spent on smartphone (X 2 = 58.39; <0.0001) during the lockdown period. Conclusion The result of this study concluded that the lockdown has negatively impacted the musculoskeletal health of the participants. The musculoskeletal pain might be short term initially, but can develop to be a long-term problem and burden if proper measures are not taken.

The impact of distance learning on musculoskeletal health: a cross-sectional study in university students

“…As indicated by our results, everyday pain was referred by signi cantly more students during the lockdown, while the percentage of asymptomatic students was signi cantly decreased, as shown by the answers in the VAS pain score. This result parallels other studies conducted during and after lockdown (Ahmed et al 2021;Roggio et al 2021), that also highlight musculoskeletal pain in numerous body locations.…”

The sitting vs standing spine

“…The exponential increase in sitting and its musculoskeletal sequelae during the COVID-19 pandemic enhances the relevance of this review further. Since early 2020, numerous studies have stressed that low back pain and sagittal imbalance has become quite more frequent in individuals of all ages and particularly students and young workers [15 , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] . Oftentimes, these individuals enter a vicious circle, where they seek relief from pain in sitting, but bad sitting postures only deteriorate their pain and the underlying spinal condition [52] .…”

Relationship between musculoskeletal pain, sleep quality and migraine with level of physical activity in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The increase in sedentary lifestyle caused by pandemic is easily explained by the fact that spaces used for physical activity (gyms, sports clubs) have been closed due to protocols established by the government in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and practice PA at home is often discouraging. Ahmed et al [ 22 ] showed the lockdown has led to the various changes in the overall activities and lifestyle and the reduction of physical activity level had profoundly negative impact on musculoskeletal health. Therefore, social isolation, an important measure used by governments to inhibit the spread of SARS-COV-2, has further increased the rates of sedentary lifestyle, which is an aggravating factor for COVID-19, as its negative effects lead to increased stress, anxiety, depression and even immune depression [ 23 ].…”