Occupational and individual factors related to musculoskeletal symptoms in five body regions among Swedish nursing personnel

Abstract

The relationship between individual factors, physical and psychosocial exposure at work, and musculoskeletal symptoms in the neck, shoulders, low back, hands, and knees was studied among female nursing personnel working at a Swedish hospital. The personnel had participated in a course in work technique (patient transfer and handling principles). Prior to the course, the subjects had filled in a questionnaire (n = 688). The aim of this cross-sectional study was to elucidate whether different individual and work factors are related to musculoskeletal symptoms in a specific body region. Due to the cross-sectional design, however, causality cannot be discussed. Univariate analyses and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed and yielded similar results. The latter analyses showed that in the present hospital setting, individual factors together with physical and psychosocial work factors were related to symptoms in the neck, low back, and hands; individual factors and psychosocial work factors were related to symptoms in the shoulders; while only individual factors were related to symptoms in the knees. The results of the present study showed that various individual factors and physical and psychosocial work factors were related to musculoskeletal symptoms in the different body regions. Thus, the identification of risk factors might have far-reaching implications for the way in which effective health programs for prevention should be designed in the hospital setting.

Condições de trabalho, características sociodemográficas e distúrbios musculoesqueléticos em trabalhadores de enfermagem

“…Similar prevalence found in another study (4) confirm the high occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders and reveal the importance of this problem among the nursing staff. However, significantly lower percentages, especially for the regions: lumbar (59%), shoulders (40%) and cervical (28.6%), were observed in other studies (4)(5) . Among the localizations of pain, the pain in the lumbar spine has achieved high recurrent rates in studies among the nursing staff.…”

“…Among the localizations of pain, the pain in the lumbar spine has achieved high recurrent rates in studies among the nursing staff. The movements performed in activities, the maintenance of static postures, the bending for long periods, and the transportation of patients, were the activities that showed more association with this type of pain (2,4) . On the other hand, the care activity, drag or push beds/stretchers/wheelchairs (with patients) were more related to pain complaints on shoulders and neck (2) .…”

“…Research performed in several countries show prevalence rates above 80% of these disorders in nursing workers (2,4) . Brazilian studies show prevalence rates of 43% to 93% (5) .…”

Distúrbios musculo-esqueléticos em trabalhadores de enfermagem: associação com condições de trabalho

“…Pesquisas realizadas em vários países, exibem prevalências superiores a 80% de ocorrência de distúrbios musculoesqueléticos em trabalhadores de enfermagem (5,6,8,12,13) . Estudos brasileiros mostram prevalências entre 43 a 93% desses distúrbios (10,14,15) .…”

Applications of the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire: A Review

“…They are the most frequent health problem at work, causing disability and long-term down time [9][10][11], representing some 33% of all injuries and illnesses of workers (as of 2013), reducing productivity [8].…”