PREVALENCE AND PATTERN OF MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG CLINICAL PHYSIOTHERAPY UNDERGRADUATES IN A NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY

F. Adepoju¹, O. Osundiya², E. Adetutu¹

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) cause reduction in productivity and negatively impact the health- related quality of life of health workers; Physiotherapists are not exempted. Screening undergraduate clinical students for MSD could be both preventive and prophylactic.

Purpose: Early exposure of undergraduate physiotherapy students to proper body mechanics and ergonomics before they cross to clinicals could help mitigate the development of chronic pain from MSD later in life.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of undergraduates in penultimate and final years of Physiotherapy programme, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria. Ethical approval was sought and obtained from Bowen University Teaching Hospital Research Ethics Committee (NHREC/12/04/2012). Electronic copies of Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaires (NMQ-E) and biodata forms were sent to the emails of the respondents. Data were analysed using SPSS-20.0 version. The level of significance was set at 0.05.

Results: Fifty- three students were contacted out of which there were 37 respondents (69.8%). The ages ranged between 19 and 24.  Thirty students were female (81.9%) while seven were males (18.9%). There was a point prevalence of 24.3%; period prevalence was 94.6% and lifetime prevalence was 27%. Pattern of MSD showed that the neck was the most common site (78.4%); followed by the low back (75.7%); wrist/ hand (59.5%); shoulder (48.6%); upper back (45.9%); knee (40.5%); hip (27%); ankle/ feet (21.6%) and elbow (13%).
Gender did not impact pattern of MSD.

Conclusion(s): Majority of clinical physiotherapy undergraduates surveyed had MSD at a point in time. Identified students who have pain could be treated to prevent them from developing chronic pain.

Implications: Lectures on proper body mechanics and postural care should be introduced into curricula before the clinical years. Advocacy on proper ergonomic fittings of lecture theatres, hostels, library and other basic utilities should be discussed with the stakeholders.

Funding, acknowledgements: No external funding was received. The researchers funded the study

Keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders, Prevalence, Pattern

Topic: Occupational health & ergonomics

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Bowen University/Bowen University Teaching Hospital

Committee: Bowen University Teaching Hospital Research Ethics Committee

Ethics number: BUTH/REC-078