Authors: Osamah Abdullah Abdulaziz , Ehab Ragab , Wael Zakaria , Ahmed Fadl , Abdelbagi Elbashir , Abdulrahman Ghazi

Abstract

Background: The pressure of musculoskeletal pain (MSP) influences nurses’ jobs and makes it difficult for them to have a good quality of life. Experts have researched this issue a lot, but they do not fully understand how individual, lifestyle, and job-related aspects contribute to MSP.

Aim of Work: This study aimed to look into the number of nurses affected by MSP and analyze connections between MSP and certain personal, habitual, and work characteristics, especially with their exercise patterns and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: The survey was carried out among 293 nurses who were working in several hospital departments. Information collected included demographics, BMI, whether people are right- or left-handed, their usual type of exercise (as well as its length), professional experience, and how the tasks of work were organized. It was investigated how many cases of MSP were detected in various areas and regions throughout the last year. The authors used statistics to see if there was any link between MSP and various risk factors.

Results: Most people (62.5%) visited the doctor for back pain in the lower back, while upper back pain was reported by 39.2% and neck pain was reported by 38.9%. A link was found between MSP and BMI, and both nurses who were underweight and the ones who were overweight were more likely to have pain (p = 0.015). Routine exercise was actually found to increase a person’s MSP rate (p = 0.035). Doing weight exercises decreased the chances of MSP, but more nurses with MSP exercised through cardiovascular activities (p = 0.004). Exercise lasting less than an hour a week and working for fewer than 6 consecutive hours were also connected to more cases of MSP (p-values of 0.000 and 0.002). There was no connection between age, gender, left- or right-handedness, practice time, position, the department people work in, or being on shift work.

Conclusion: There are many workers in the nursing profession with MSP, and these workers tend to have complicated associations with various personal and professional factors. The protective effect of weight training and the unexpected findings regarding exercise and work hours highlight the need for tailored preventive strategies and further research into occupational health interventions.

Keywords: Prevalence ; Musculoskeletal Pain ; Nurses ; Patient Handling