Work related risk factors for low back pain among nurses in a tertiary level hospital, Dhaka -Bangladesh

Background: Low back pain, the most commonly reported musculoskeletal problem, is a major burden on individuals, health systems and social care systems with the indirect cost being predominant. This is highly recommended to reveal the information concerning LBP prevalence and its‟ associated risk factors among the working population to develop an effective and efficient preventive approach and intervention program. Nursing professionals are at great risk of developing LBP through the world reported in different studies. However, there is scarcity of evidence regarding symptoms prevalence and associated risk factors in the context of Bangladesh. Objectives: The objectives were to find out the socio – demographic information of nurses; prevalence of LBP, to find out the most commonly affected body parts, duration of lower back pain among the nurses and nurses-oriented tasks/factors associated with lower back pain in tertiary level hospital. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 participants who were selected by using convenient sampling. The Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to determine the prevalence and association between Musculoskeletal Symptoms and socio-demographic factors and to identify physical risk factors of musculoskeletal symptoms among the nurses. Result: In this study, Physical factor for back pain by heavy loads (more than 5kg) were 77% and did not low back pain were 23%.Job related risk factors for back pain by heavy loads (more than 5kg) were 97% and did not low back pain were 3%.Among 100 participants 66% participant’s said that they had pain in the last 12 months   and 34% participant said that they had no pain during the last 12 months. There was significant association between Low back pain and how long the Nurses working in this hospitalConclusion: Now a days work related musculoskeletal disorders is the greatest problem in the world among the working population. At a same time, nurses are also suffering from different musculoskeletal disorders. Subsequently, this study shows that there is a high risk of musculoskeletal symptoms among the nurses. It will be managed by reducing physical risk factors through effective ergonomic management