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W. Perveen1, I. Amin2, Z. Ashraf3, R. Hafeez Nasir4, M.A. Ali3, A. Akhtar3
1Sialkot College of Physical Therapy, Amin Welfare & Teaching Hospital, Sialkot Pakistan., Physical Therapy, Sialkot, Pakistan, 2Sialkot College of Physical Therapy, Amin Welfare & Teaching Hospital, Sialkot Pakistan, Anatomy, Sialkot, Pakistan, 3Sialkot College of Physical Therapy, Amin Welfare & Teaching Hospital, Sialkot Pakistan, Physical Therapy, Sialkot, Pakistan, 4CBI Home Health, Ontario, Canada
Background: Weightlifting and bodybuilding are sports and fitness activities, which are mishandled and not conducted with protocols in developing regions of the world. As a result, musculoskeletal problems are common complaints of weightlifters and power lifters.
Purpose: To find out prevalence of MSK problems in weightlifters and body builders and to investigate possible and most frequently injured areas of the body.
Methods: It was an Observational study. After ethical approval data were collected from five different gymnasiums and fitness centers in the city which ensures suitable dispersion of data collection including Fitness focus affiliated with Sialkot College of Physical Therapy (SCPT), Diplex Gym, City Center Gym, Karma Wala Gym and Garrison Gymnasium Cantt. Simple random sampling technique was used to enroll 100 participants and 20 subjects from each gym were interviewed. Adults ranging from 18 to 50 years of age who have been weight training for last twelve months and who have not had any other pathology that explains their symptoms were included and. Population of age below 18 and above 50,and lifting weights since less than a year were excluded. Standardized Nordic questionnaire for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms was used to record the findings.
Results: Out of the 100 participants, 67 were male and 33 were female. The overall prevalence rate was 85%. Amongst the male participants, 58 were affected and amongst the female participants 27 were affected. Anatomically, 32 males and 15 females reported shoulder pain. The prevalence rate for shoulder injuries was 48% for males and 45% for females. The low back was affected in 33 males and 14 females which corresponded to prevalence rates of 49% in males and 42% in females. The knees were affected in 14 males and 17 females. Its prevalence rate was 21% in males and 52% in females. 22 of the participants complained about muscle sprains in their weight training; similarly, 9 participants complained about ligamentous injuries.
Conclusion(s): It was found out that the male weight lifters presented with chronic symptoms and the female weight lifters presented with acute symptoms. The injury rate increased with increasing age. The injury rate or the pain complaining rate was higher in older adults amongst the participants and reduced with middle and young adults. The most affected part of the weight lifters body was lower back in total population of participants.
Implications: This was a small study conducted in single city; future researches may be conducted with larger sample size to generalize the results.
Funding, acknowledgements: no funding was availed from any source.
Keywords: musculoskeltal problems, weight lifting, body building
Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Sialkot College of Physical Therapy.
Committee: SCPT-IRB
Ethics number: SCPT-IRB/2018/397
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
