A Cross-Sectional Survey of Low Back Pain in Nurses Working in Orthopedic Departments

Abstract

The study aimed to gain knowledge about low back pain (LBP) in nurses working in the orthopedic departments of tertiary hospitals in Sichuan province, China. We used a cross-sectional survey to examine the prevalence of LBP among 797 inpatient nurses who had worked for 1 year in an orthopedic department in one of 29 hospitals (Grade 3A) in Sichuan province. The survey included a questionnaire to determine the prevalence of LBP and factors related to LBP, a screening graph of LBP symptoms, the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), and the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) for LBP. The 1-year period prevalence of LBP in the nursing population was 66.8% and the point prevalence was 51.3%. Among the 523 nurses who had experienced LBP, the mean total number of days that LBP had been experienced during the past year was 20.2 ± 16.3 days (range = 1-90 days). The annual number of episodes of LBP was 5.7 ± 4.5 times/year (range = 1-20 times/year). More than half the orthopedic nurses (51.1%) planned to quit, and 5.8% thought of leaving their job due to LBP. These study findings indicate that nurses in this region experience a burden of LBP similar to those in other regions in the world.