Pattern of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Nurses at Main Assiut University Hospital

Nurses have to perform many physically demanding tasks such as transferring patients in and out of bed, lifting patients onto a bed, and continually maintaining bent-forward or twisted postures Examples of WRMDs : 1. Muscle strain: Overstretching or overexertion of a muscle or tendon. 2. Tendonitis and tenosynovitis. 3. Nerve injury: Carpal tunnel syndrome. 4. Rotator cuff injuries (affects the shoulder) 5. Epicondylitis (affects the elbow) 6. Trigger finger. 7. Low back injuries (16,17). A previous cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Chennai (India)2013 among dentists, laboratory technicians, nurses, physicians, and physiotherapists of various clinical departments. It showed that irrespective of regions, musculoskeletal problems during last 12 months was reported by 56% of nurses 55% of physiotherapists, 54% of dentists, 39% of laboratory technicians and 38% of physicians. About half (50.7%) of the participants reported symptoms involving at least one part of their bodies. Among all the symptoms, low back pain (LBP) was the highest (45.7%), followed by neck pain (28.5%) and shoulder pain (23.5%), whereas hip/thigh pain (7.1%) and elbow pain (5%) was the least reported(7). A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among health care workers in Lahore, Pakistan, Muscle aches/ muscle strains were mostly reported among nurses (38.6%) (19).A cross sectional study was conducted among nurses working in Mansoura Children University Hospital during the period from January to May 2017. The prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints among nurses was 85.9 % .The most common sites were elbow (85.2%) followed by pelvis/ thigh (74.9%) and wrist (64.6%). Surprisingly the least site for pain was low back pain (37%)(20). A cross sectional study is implemented on 135 female nurses in Suez Canal University Hospital and Ismailia About 113(83.7%) of the participants reported musculoskeletal symptoms(21).