Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in nursing students

Abstract

Background Musculoskeletal symptoms are the most common conditions in society, being indicated as one of the main factors of disability during the life cycle of an individual [1-2]. Students are exposed to the factors that can trigger these musculoskeletal symptoms [3], both during class periods and clinical teaching. Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain is higher in the cervical region among nursing students of 1st year and 2nd year, and lower back in nursing students of the 3rd and 4th years [4]. Objective To determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in nursing students. Methods Cross-sectional and descriptive study. One hundred and fifty-five (155) nursing students from two nursing schools in Lisbon participated in this study. The data collection instrument consisted on sociodemographic and health behaviour variables and the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ). The NMQ consists of 27 binary choice questions (yes or no) [5]. The variables were expressed as percentages. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of two nursing’s schools. Results 83.23% of the sample are females, single (88.38%) and 32.26% are working students. 81.94% are non-smoking; 87.1% do not usually ingest alcoholic drinks; 65.81% use a backpack and 23.23% carry objects on their way to school. 49.03% spend between 2 and 4 hours on the computer and electronic devices and 42.58% spend more than 4 hours. 71% spend more than 4 hours seated during classes. 85.8% had no training prevention of musculoskeletal injuries. The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms by location of the aches, pain, discomfort and numbness were as following: 66.23% in the neck; 52.29% shoulders; 7.24% elbows; 39.47% wrists/hands; 20.53% upper back; 69.33% lower back; 15.33% hips/thighs, 32% knees and 22.82% ankles/feet. Conclusions The most frequent aches, pain, discomfort, numbness location are located on the neck, shoulders and lower back. The main causes related to musculoskeletal injuries are the transportation of weights, use of computer and electronic devices and to be seated for long periods of time. It is recommended the implementation of prevention strategies in order to reduce the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries.