Abstract
Aim. The purpose of the present research was to examine the factors that lead to musculoskeletal disorders in dentists by assessing their posture using RULA method. Materials and Methods. In this cross-sectional study, 130 dentists (84 male and 46 female) participated. The posture of the subjects during their normal workload was recorded by using the RULA method, and the range of musculoskeletal pains by using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), and individual and professional data was assessed by a demographics questionnaire. All tests were performed at the P < 0.05 level. Results. Assessment of the physical status of the subjects showed that 82.8% of subjects were at high risk of musculoskeletal disorders. The majority of musculoskeletal pains were in the neck (55.9%) and the shoulder (43.8%). Moreover, 68.9% of the subjects had experienced pain at least once over the last year. Significant relationships were observed between musculoskeletal pain and daily work hours (P = 0.07) and number of patients (P = 0.02), but the pain was not significantly associated with BMI and experience. Conclusion. The present findings showed that unsuitable posture of dentists during work has a considerable effect on musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, further investigation is required to avoid the detrimental effects of wrong posture.
Highlights
Dental practice is a high risk profession and every year a large number of dentists are at risk of job related musculoskeletal disorders [1,2,3]
The results suggest that there is a significant relationship between the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and number of patients per week (P = 0.02) and work hours per week (P = 0.007), but it was not significantly associated with gender, experience, and BMI (P > 0.05) (Table 8)
The findings showed that prevalence of musculoskeletal pain was positively associated with work hours
Summary
Dental practice is a high risk profession and every year a large number of dentists are at risk of job related musculoskeletal disorders [1,2,3] Different factors such as heredity, stress, unsuitable posture during work, and lack of regular exercise can affect the incidence of such disorders [3]. Many studies have reported that poor posture in dentists during working is the major risk factor for musculoskeletal pain; for example, Choobineh and his colleagues, in Shiraz (2010), reported that dentists’ postures during dental work, by RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) method, were at high risk of musculoskeletal injuries and require immediate attention and correction [15]. Each year many dentists are forced to Journal of Environmental and Public Health
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