Low Back Pain Among Nurses in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital at Malappuram Kerala

Abstract

Background: Numerous nurses suffer from low back pain of various origins, which causes them to lose productivity, obtain unwanted medical reports, and sometimes even retire before their time. Age, heredity, obesity, bad posture, poor body mechanics, pregnancy, tension, personal stress, and traumatic incidents like falls or vehicle accidents are all potential causes of musculoskeletal injuries on the job. Methodology: A descriptive study was done with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire to determine the burden of low back pain among nurses in a tertiary medical college. The data were entered into a Microsoft Excel sheet (Redmond, USA) before being transferred to SPSS. The frequency was expressed in proportion. A Chi-square was done to test the association. Result: Among 220 nurses, 89 (40.4%) complained of mild low back pain, 86 (39.09%) complained of moderate pain, and seven (0.03%) of them had severe low back pain. Due to low back pain, among the 182 (82.7%) nurses who have low back pain, 46 of them had to take one or more days' leave from work. Thirty-six nurses have had low back pain for more than four years. As a mode of treatment, 43 nurses have taken either medicine or injection; 25 of them have taken rest; four are on Ayurvedic treatment, and 110 nurses haven't taken any treatment. Conclusion: The majority of the nurses complained of low back aches. Care must be taken to take adequate rest after prolonged standing and proper treatment. Frequent bending and using an abnormal posture must be avoided. The use of ergonomically designed chairs should be emphasized for the protection of the back.