Abstract
Low back pain is one of the major occupational health problems ranked the highest in terms of years lived with disability, and it has an economic burden on individuals and society in general. Hairdressers are high-risk professionals, but they are usually getting less attention in research and policy actions. The objective of this study is to assess the magnitude and associated factors of low back pain among hairdressers working in female beauty salons of Mekelle, Northern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was employed from January up to March 2018. A simple random sampling was applied to select 344 participants. Interviewer-administered, pretested, and structured questionnaire was used. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were performed using SPSS version 23. A p value of <0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. A total of 314 hairdressers participated, with a 91.3% response rate. The study found that the prevalence of low back pain was 47.5% with 95% CI (41.8–53.1). Marital status (AOR: 0.40, 95% CI (0.23–0.71)), awkward posture (AOR: 2.59, 95%CI (1.45–4.63)), working greater than 4 days in a week (AOR: 5.12, 95% CI (1.94–13.70)), the task of washing the client's hair (AOR: 4.45, 95% CI (1.93–10.26)), having adjustable washing basin (AOR: 0.35, 95% CI (0.18–0.69)), job stress (AOR: 0.45, 95% CI (0.27–0.77)), and job satisfaction (AOR: 0.58, 95% CI (0.34–0.98)) were factors that show a statistically significant association with low back pain. This study found that low back pain is a major health problem among hairdressers. Marital status, awkward postures, working days per week, the task of washing the client's hair, adjustable washing basin, job stress, and job satisfaction show a strong association with low back pain. The result suggests that effective intervention strategies for low back pain need to include ergonomic improvements and psychosocial and behavioral aspects of the participants.
Highlights
Low back pain (LBP) is defined as pain, muscle tension, or stiffness on the area between the inferior margin of the 12th rib and inferior gluteal folds with or without sciatica [1]
Work-related low back pain (WRLBP) is one of the common health problems, which most people experience at some point in their life that can cause work absenteeism and occupational disability costs which lead to numerous economic burden on individuals, families, communities, and countries in general with the estimated global point prevalence range from 1.0% to 58.1% and one-year prevalence from 0.8% to 82.5% [1, 5]
A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mekelle city, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, from January up to March 2018
Summary
Low back pain (LBP) is defined as pain, muscle tension, or stiffness on the area between the inferior margin of the 12th rib and inferior gluteal folds with or without sciatica [1]. Work-related low back pain (WRLBP) is one of the common health problems, which most people experience at some point in their life that can cause work absenteeism and occupational disability costs which lead to numerous economic burden on individuals, families, communities, and countries in general with the estimated global point prevalence range from 1.0% to 58.1% and one-year prevalence from 0.8% to 82.5% [1, 5].
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