The Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Pains among Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Musculoskeletal pains refer to damages people with inappropriate body positions may suffer in their jobs and are one of the most common occupational diseases.With hospital personnel and those working in this environment like physicians, nurses, interns and nursing apprentices falling into active occupational groups, this study sought to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal pains in these occupations.Method: This descriptive-analytical cross sectional study was conducted in Dr. Ganjavian Hospital in Dezful in 2020 on 239 physicians, nurses, interns and nursing apprentices using a random sampling method. To assess musculoskeletal disorders in people, the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was used. The data normalization was examined using chi-squared test and contingency tables. The whole analyses were done by SPSS 16.Results: Musculoskeletal pains in people with higher job and study-related activities were more prevalent than other people in the study. There was also a significant relationship among gender, median age, the frequency of exercise and BMI with the prevalence of musculoskeletal pains. A significant relationship was found between different occupational groups (physicians, nurses, interns and nursing apprentices) and the presence of pain in wrists, hands and elbows, too.Conclusions: Our results showed that the presence of musculoskeletal disorders was relatively high in the lumbar regions (51.7%) and necks (49.6%) and in general musculoskeletal disorders are significantly higher among physicians and nurses, a reason of which can be related to a higher median age in these groups than in apprentices. Thus, it seems necessary to both improve working conditions for hospital staff and raise their awareness of the risks leading to musculoskeletal disorders.