Frequency of Work Related Musculoskeletal Wrist Pain Among Health Care Professionals of Lahore Pakistan

Frequency of Work Related Musculoskeletal Wrist Pain

Abstract

The wrist and hand work related musculoskeletal (MSK) problems are very high in individuals performing prolonged hand task and repeated movements. The profession required manual dealing with additionally repetitive movement and hard work are at high risk of developing work related MSK problems.

Objective: To determine the frequency of work related musculoskeletal wrist pain among health care professionals.

Methods: In this cross sectional study the sample size was 227 and data were collected from Children Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Nawaz Sharif Social Security hospital (PESSI) of Lahore, Pakistan using convenient sampling. In this study a valid questionnaire Patient Rated wrist evaluation (PRWE) was used. The questionnaire comprised of three demographic questions and 15 other questions regarding pain and difficulty in doing functional activities ranging from 0 to 10.

Results: In this study out of 227 individuals 175 participants reported wrist pain. According to profession the frequency of MSK wrist pain among health care professionals (HCP) was54 (30.9%) in doctors, 63 (36%) in dentists, 26 (14.9%) in physiotherapists and 32 (18.3%) in other professionals (nurses, speech therapist).

Conclusions: This study reported high frequency of work related musculoskeletal wrist pain among health care professionals but the intensity of pain was mild to moderate.