Musculoskeletal Pain in Medical Students Subject to Remote Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Musculoskeletal pain is a consequence of repetitive strain, overuse, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In 2020, due to the new coronavirus pandemic, social isolation started, and so did online classes in a remote study strategy to replace classroom-based study routines. Thus, students adopted a different physical posture from the usual one for a longer time than usual, representing a possible risk factor for musculoskeletal pain. In this sense, this research aimed to identify the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain in medical students subject to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory study was applied through an online questionnaire, using the Google Forms application, to 154 students from the first to the fourth year of the medical course at a university in the countryside of the state of S?o Paulo. Among the participants, 99 (64.3%) were female, and 54 (35.7%) were male individuals with ages ranging from 18 and 34. In regards to the daily study time in sitting position, 83 (55.0%) reported staying more than 4 hours, 39 (25.8%) between 2 and 4 hours, and 29 (19.2%) less than 2 hours still. As for musculoskeletal pain before the pandemic; 98 (63.6%) reported not feeling it, while 56 (36.4%) reported being affected by this type of pain. However, after the pandemic, 51 respondents (33.1%) continued not to feel anything, whereas 103 (66.9%) kept on having some type of musculoskeletal pain. The results obtained suggest an increase in musculoskeletal pain during the pandemic however other studies may confirm these findings.