Prevalence of Work-related Musculoskeletal Elbow Pain Among Healthcare Professionals of Lahore City

Abstract: Musculoskeletal pain is very common complaint in the workplace and about billions of dollars yearly are spending on work-related musculoskeletal issue. Elbow pain is one of the common complaints in healthcare professionals nowadays. Few studies have been conducted on musculoskeletal pain among healthcare professionals in Pakistan, but not specifically on elbow pain. Objective: To determine the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal elbow pain among healthcare professionals of Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare professionals by using convenient sampling technique. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) of pain was used to assess the prevalence rate of work related elbow pain among healthcare professionals. The data of 210 participants were collected from different healthcare setups of Lahore and were analyzed through SPSS version 21.0 and P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There were 210 participants including40 (19%) physician, 30 (14.3%) surgeons, 35 (16.7%) dentists, 37 (17.6%) physiotherapist, 38 (18.1%) nurses and, 30 (14.3%) technologists. The lifetime prevalence of work related musculoskeletal elbow pain among healthcare professionals was reported in 32 (15.2%). There was a significant relationship between occupations and the elbow pain (0.023). Elbow pain was reported in 15% physicians, 20% surgeons, 31.4 % dentists, 13.5% physiotherapists, 2.6% nurses, and 10% technologists. Conclusions: Dentists, surgeons, physicians and physiotherapists had much prevalence of elbow pain comparative to others (nurses, technologists etc.). Keywords: Elbow pain, work-related musculoskeletal pain