WORK RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG EGYPTAIN PHYSICAL THERAPISTS AND YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Document Type : Original research articles

Authors

1 Department of Basic Science. Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University

2 Batterjee Medical College BMC. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: To survey the relationship between works related to musculoskeletal disorders and
physical therapists years of work in Egypt.
Methods: The study was conducted on 835 physical therapists. They were assigned into four
groups; according to their duration of work, their mean age ± SD was 28.57 ± 5.31 years ranging
between 21 and 51 years. They were working in educational, general, private, rehabilitation
hospitals, and private clinics in Egypt, to assess musculoskeletal disorders due to work in the last 12
months. The participants were asked to answer the Modified Nordic questionnaire.
Results: The form sent to 1000 physical therapists the response rate for the questionnaire was
83.5%. The twelve-month prevalence of back compliant due to work of the study groups was
97.6% with 95% confidence interval (CI) of 96.32- 98.44%. Life time prevalence of upper back
pain was 27.18% with 95% CI of 24.27-30.3%.; and that of low back pain was 89.82% with 95%
CI of 87.85-91.69%. There was a significant association between back disorders and duration of
work (p = 0.0001). The highest low back pain lifetime prevalence of 95.74% was among
physiotherapists with 7-10 years of work. The twelve-month prevalence of back complaints was
100% among physiotherapists with 4-6 and 7-10 of work.
Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of work-related back pain among Egyptian
physiotherapists. Physiotherapists with more than one year of work are at high risk of developing
back disorders. Work modification and preventive measures should be considered to minimize the
risk of injury
.

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