Psychosocial Factors Related to Low Back Pain among School Personnel in Nagoya, Japan.

Abstract

Related factors of low back pain (LBP) among school personnel were investigated. We designed a cross-sectional study employing questionnaires, which included a Japanese version of the Job Content Questionnaire. Subjects consisted of 3306 male and 3184 female school personnel in all public schools and kindergartens operated by Nagoya City, Japan. Prevalence of LBP in each work category was compared to that in general teachers of each gender after adjusting for age. Male teachers at schools for the handicapped and in classrooms for the handicapped showed significantly higher LBP prevalence. Among female participants, teachers at schools for the handicapped, physical education teachers, kindergarten personnel and school nurses displayed higher LBP prevalence. In work categories which demonstrated high LBP prevalence, low social support and low job satisfaction were related to LBP of school nurses despite low physical loads. High job demand and physical loads correlated to LBP in kindergarten personnel.

Prevalence of Low Back Pain and its Risk Factors among School Teachers

“…The result was consistent with a study in Hong Kong among secondary school teachers (Chiu and Lam, 2007) which showed female teachers were prone (38.5%, 74.9% respectively) to develop upper limb and neck pain. A study on low back pain among school personnel in Japan also showed the same result (23.2%) of a higher prevalence among women (Tsuboi et al, 2002). Previous studies suggested that gender differences occurred because women were more likely to report any pain problem than men as women tended to have a lower pain threshold than men (Chiu and Lam, 2007;Jin et al, 2004).…”

“…The more psychological demands needed for a certain tasks, the greater is the possibility to develop musculoskeletal disorder; whatever the anatomical area is (Lanfranchi and Duveau, 2008). Other studies had proved that high mental pressure showed a significant psychosocial risk factor for musculoskeletal disorder among school teachers (Tsuboi et al, 2002;Chiu and Lam, 2007) and Japanese nurses (Smith et al, 2006). Other occupations that showed a high prevalence of low back pain also demonstrated the relationship with psychological or psychosocial factors (Tamrin et al, 2007;Scuffham et al, 2009;Harreby et al, 1996).…”

“…The risk factors for low back pain have been identified to include individual factors such as body weight and age, biomechanical factors such as heavy physical load, prolonged static postures and lifting and psychosocial factors such as job satisfaction, time and study demands as well as job stress (Tsuboi et al, 2002;Tamrin et al, 2007;Scuffham et al, 2009). The job natures of teachers in school included all the risk factors mentioned above.…”

“…Psychosocial impacts are manifested through insomnia, irritability, anxiety and depression (Clairborne et al, 2002). Previous studies reported that there were significant relationship between psychosocial variables and musculoskeletal disorders (Tsuboi et al, 2002;Ariens et al, 2001;Chiu et al, 2006).…”

“…About 11.6% out of 2600 populations in a semirural area, Malaysia were diagnosed with low back pain problem (Veerapen et al, 2007). Low back pain does not only signify poor quality of individuals' life, but also showed decreased in labor productivity due to offwork, absenteeism and early retirement (Tsuboi et al, 2002).…”