Investigation of the change of lockdowns applied due to COVID-19 pandemic on musculoskeletal discomfort

Abstract

Objectives: COVID-19 pandemic has affected public health to a large extent. The rapid contamination of the disease has necessitated social distance and lockdown. Musculoskeletal discomforts are the most common complaints among routine medical complaints. Restraints caused by the pandemic and psycho-social effects have caused such complaints increase. In the present study, the aim is to determine whether there is a difference between the Musculoskeletal System Discomforts of the people before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and to reveal the factors affecting such a difference. Material and Method: This study was carried out in descriptive design. In the study, the study group consisted 1138 people living at different cities of Turkey who accepted to participate in the study. As the data collection tool, the personal information form prepared by the researcher and the “Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (T-CMDQ)”, which was developed by Cornell and translated into Turkish by Erdinç et al. who also tested the validity and adaptation of the questionnaire, were used in the study. The test method conducted in computer environment was used as the data collection method. In the study, decision of the ethics committee was taken for the non-interventional practices (Dated 2020 with no. 06). Paired Sample t-Test statistics was used for data comparison in the study. Significance level was accepted as p <0.001. In the study, Cronbach alpha value of the total score of Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire was found as 0.92. Results: It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between the total mean scores of the participants before COVID-19 and during COVID-19 (p <0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between the total mean scores of the participants regarding the pain level before COVID-19 and during COVID-19 (p <0.001). Conclusion: During COVID-19, it is determined that there is a decrease in the frequency of feeling pain, aches, and discomfort in body regions, but an increase in the severity of the emergent discomforts.