Background: The impact of work-related musculoskeletal symptoms (WMSS) permeates various occupations. Objective: To compare WMSS and associated risk factors among domestic gas workers (DGWs) and staff of Works Department (SWD) in Enugu. Methods: One-hundred adults (DGW = 50, SWD = 50) participated in this cross-sectional study. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and a demographics questionnaire were used to assess the prevalence of WMSS and related risk factors. Data were analysed using independent t-test or Mann-Whitney U, chi-square, and logistic regression at p < 0.05. Results: The DGWs (86%) had a significantly (χ2 = 24.45, p < 0.001) higher WMSS than the SWD (38%). Lower-back (54%) and shoulder (52%) were the most affected body parts among the DGWs in comparison to the hips/thighs (20%) among the SWD. Work-related factors such as daily work-duration (χ2 = 75.44, p < 0.001), lifting training (χ2 = 96.24, p < 0.001), and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) of facemask (χ2 = 100.0, p < 0.001) and gloves (χ2 = 96.09, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with general WMSS among the DGWs. However, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (OR = 1.29, p = 0.018), work duration > 8 h/day (OR = 0.001, p = 0.028), female gender (OR = 6.98-10.26, p < 0.05), sleep duration < 6 h/day (OR = 0.56-0.73, p < 0.05) and poor exercise behaviour (OR = 0.15, p = 0.013) were the identified independent risk factors of WMSS among DGWs, while DBP (OR = 0.99, p = 0.012) and female gender (OR = 6.47, p = 0.032) were the only identified independent risk factors for SWD.

Background; the brief fear of movement scale for knee osteoarthritis (b-FMSKOA) is a valid instrument for assessing fear of movement in individuals with OA. The objective of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the b-FMSKOA into Igbo language (b-FMSKO-I) and assess its validity and reliability in patients with knee osteoarthritis to promote its use in Igbo speaking parts of Nigeria.Methods; the original b-FMSKOA was translated and culturally adapted from English into Igbo following a standardized procedure according to Beaton et al., 2000 in seven separate processes of translation, back translation, committee review and pre-testing before being tested for psychometric quality. It was administered (within a 2day interval) to 15 consenting outpatients with knee OA who attended physiotherapy unit 3times a week in a selected South-eastern Nigerian hospital. The b-FMSKOA (English version) was correlated with the Igbo version. Results; the concurrent validity of the b-FMSKOA-I was found to be satisfactory and comparable to the original version. The correlation coefficient of the variables of interest were within the range of 0.441 and 0.998 and all showed significant correlation (p< 0.05) between the scores obtained from the English and Igbo version of the questionnaire except for the fourth item (r= 0.441; p=0.131) which showed no significant relationship. Cronbach’s alpha showed the questionnaire to reach acceptable reliability α = 0.85. The Pearson correlation coefficient of the variables of interest was within the range of 0.441 and 0.945 with the fourth and first item recording the lowest (r=0.441) and highest (r=0.945) correlation coefficient respectively. All variables showed significant correlation (p< 0.05) between the scores obtained from Igbo version of the questionnaires except for the fourth item (r= 0.441; p=0.131) which showed no significant relationshipConclusion; the b-FMSKO-I like the original version is a reliable, consistent and valid instrument that can be considered for use in South-eastern Nigeria for evidence based quality healthcare promotion in patients with knee osteoarthritis.