Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and Its Association with Mental Health and Quality of Life among Working Physiotherapists

Abstract

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are defined as “regional impairments describing as inflammation and degenerative diseases and disorders of the muscles, tendons, nerves, joints, and fascia. When the surrounding work environment, work events (work itself) and the performance of work contribute in causing such kind of disorders over a time period, then they are called work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). It results into range of symptoms like pain, ache, disability, discomfort, fatigue, mental stress and thus resulting into loss of work time, work restriction of task, transfer to another job, sickness absenteeism and reducing overall quality of life. Workplace stress occurs in the workplace or work related organization, and is defined as “a harmful mental and physical reaction coming from discordance between employee’s ability, resources, and willingness and work requirement. Also stress coming from pain, discomfort can also alter the mental status of the person and can quality of life (QoL) of employees. Purpose of the study: To determine the Prevalence of WRMSD among working physiotherapist and the objective was to find out the association of WRMSD with mental health and quality of life. Methodology: In this study a google form was created using 3 questionnaires (Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire for determining the musculoskeletal disorder, Quality of life was assessed through WHO-BREF. Mental health was assessed by General health questionnaire (GH-12). Results: The prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among the Physiotherapists is 82%. It is also concluded that the low back and neck are the most common sites susceptible to injury followed by upper back and thighs. There was a significant association of Work related musculoskeletal disorders with quality of life only. Conclusions: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are an important health risk within the physiotherapy profession. Therefore, it is recommended that education programs on prevention and coping strategies for musculoskeletal symptoms in Physiotherapists should be made mandatory in order to decrease the risk of WRMSDs which will ultimately improve the quality of life. Keywords: [Work-Related Musculoskeletal disorders, Pain, quality of Life, Mental health, Physiotherapists, Physiotherapy]