The magnitude and factors associated with work-related back and lower extremity musculoskeletal disorders among barbers in Gondar town, northwest Ethiopia, 2017: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Work-related back and lower extremity disorders often present remarkable health and economic burdens on societies. Occupational barbers are usually neglected in research and policy actions, mainly in developing countries, and are hence more vulnerable to the conditions. So far, information about the factors influencing back and lower extremity disorders among barbers in Ethiopia is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors affecting back and lower extremity disorders among barbers in Gondar town, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to May 2017. A sample of 434 barbers recruited using the systematic random sampling technique. A pre-tested standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire was interviewer-administered for data collection. Data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20. The significance of associations was evaluated at ≤0.05 p-value with a 95% confidence intervals (CI) and adjusted odds ratios (AOR). Results The response rate was 98.8% (N = 429). The mean age and mean length of employment were 26.38 (standard deviations (SD) ± 4.78) and 4.91 years, respectively. The prevalence of work-related low back pain in the previous 12 months and in the last 7 days was 55.7% (N = 239) [95% CI (51.0, 60.4)] and 32.6% (N = 140), respectively. About 40.6% (n = 97) of the participants with back pains indicated their activities were limited. The prevalence of knee/leg and ankle pain was 39.4% (N = 169) and 25.6% (N = 110), respectively. Out of the participants, 17% (n = 41) sought treatment services. Less than half, 40.6% (n = 97) said they perceived high disability, while 38.1% (n = 91) explained their pain was intense (severe). Age [AOR: 2.001; 95% CI (1.174, 4.346)], alcohol use [AOR: 2.283; 95% CI (1.376, 3.789)], lack of safety training [AOR: 0.110; 95% CI (0.032, 0.271], working posture [AOR: 0.142; 95% CI (0.045, 0.215)], and length of employment [AOR: 1.650.132; 95% CI (1.107, 2.140] were significantly associated factors. Conclusions Back and lower extremity musculoskeletal pain and disability were found to be prevalent among Ethiopian barbers and to be associated with age, alcohol use, safety training, work postures, and length of employment. We believe that programs for management of musculoskeletal disorders need to address these factors.

Prevalence and healthcare seeking practice of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among informal sectors of hairdressers in Ethiopia, 2019: findings from a cross-sectional study

“…Similarly, a study in Nigeria reported the prevalence of 76.3, 62.5, and 46.3% in low back, shoulder, and neck, respectively [4]. In our previous studies, we found 55.7% prevalence of back pain, 39.4% knee/ leg, 25.6% ankle [24], and 56.7% upper body [19].…”

Risk factors for self-reported carpal tunnel syndrome among hairstylists in Gaborone, Botswana

“…Literature further reveals that hand/ wrist pain leads to a significant number of hairdressers visiting a doctor, and that shoulder and back pain contributes to sickness absences among hairdressers [13]. The high prevalence of CTS symptoms in this study, accompanied by the limited awareness of CTS, calls for efforts to improve the awareness of CTS among hairdressers in order to promote some behavioral changes as well as organizational and technological approaches [29,30]. In this study, it was also noted that the rent-a-chair facility makes every hairdresser their own employer.…”

“…Further limitations of this study that need to be acknowledged are the possibility of recall bias and the self-reporting of CTS. It is not clear if the participants correctly remembered the presence of CTS symptoms in the past months There is convincing literature that hairdressers have more musculoskeletal disorders and higher associated pain intensity levels [15,29,30]. Literature further reveals that hand/ wrist pain leads to a significant number of hairdressers visiting a doctor, and that shoulder and back pain contributes to sickness absences among hairdressers [13].…”

Prevalence of Occupational Related Upper and Low Back Musculoskeletal Disorders in Ethiopia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In this study, a total of 9,410 participants were included in 20 articles conducted in Ethiopia and published from 2017 to 2020 [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]: 9 (45.0%) articles [30,32,38,39,41,43,44,47,48] conducted in Oromia, three (15%) in Tigray [31,36,45], three (15%) in SNNP [29,34,35], three (15%) articles in Addis Ababa [33,40,46], two (10%) articles in Amhara regional state. All included studies were cross-sectional studies with a sample size ranging from 264 [45] to 771 [40] study participants.…”

“…Among the included articles, 10(50%) [30,33,34,36,37,39,40,42,43,47] of the included articles were reported the prevalence of both low back pain and upper back pain, 9(45%) articles [29,31,32,35,41,[44][45][46]48] reported the prevalence of low back pain alone and 1(5%) [38] reported the prevalence of upper back pain alone. Furthermore, 8 (40%) included articles were published in 2020 [29,31,32,34,[44][45][46][47], followed by studies published in 2019 [36][37][38][41][42][43] that accounted 6(30%) of the included articles. Based on JBI Critical Appraisal tool [25], all of the included articles had a low risk of bias.…”