The impact of occupational and personal factors on musculoskeletal pain - a cohort study of female teachers, nurses and sonographers

Abstract

Background Musculoskeletal pain is common in the general population and constitutes a major public health problem. A large proportion of these conditions may be work related. This study aimed to explore the relative importance of physical, psychosocial and personal factors, for musculoskeletal single- and multisite pain, among women in ordinary professions with a broad variety of occupational exposures. Methods A cohort of 1115 women responded to a questionnaire of ergonomic, psychosocial, personal and life-style factors, and musculoskeletal pain (based on frequency and intensity of complaints in nine anatomical sites), at baseline and at follow-up (mean 28 months later). Sum-scores of ergonomic- and psychosocial factors were created. The importance of the exposures at baseline for multisite pain (≥four pain-sites) at follow-up were estimated using ordinal regression. Multi-exposure Poisson regression models of exposures at baseline were used for outcomes of single-site pain at follow-up, in the neck, the shoulders, the hands, the lower back and the feet. Results High sum-scores of ergonomic- and psychosocial factors at baseline were of importance for multisite pain at follow-up, although the strongest risk factor was the presence of multisite pain at baseline. There was a large fluctuation in number of pain-sites between the two time-points, on the individual level. Eighteen percent of the study population reported multisite pain both at baseline and at follow-up, while only eleven percent did not report any pain, neither at baseline nor at follow-up. Among the single-site outcomes, a high sum-score of ergonomic factors was a risk factor of pain in the neck, the hands and the feet. A high sum-score of psychosocial factors was a risk factor of neck- and shoulder pain. The strongest risk factor was, however, pain in the actual anatomical site at baseline. Only a few of the personal and life-style factors were of importance for subsequent single- and multisite pain. Conclusions An overwhelming majority of the women in common occupations were affected by musculoskeletal pain. Both ergonomic- and psychosocial factors were predictive of single- and multisite pain. The findings points to the need of actions on individual, organizational and societal level.

Risk assessment of the work-related musculoskeletal disorders based on individual characteristics using path analysis models

“…Work-related musculoskeletal discomforts (WMSDs) are common experiences in the workers involved in manual material handling and employees of official [ 1 ]. WMSDs arise in many tissues of the upper and lower limbs, neck, and lower back, such as muscles, tendons, joints, bones, ligaments, cartilage and intervertebral discs, peripheral nerves, and vascular system [ 2 ].…”