The Prevalence of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Indian Orthodontists

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to find out the prevalence and distribution of the work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) among the Indian orthodontists. Furthermore, to find out possible correlations between these symptoms and variables, such as gender, work experience in years, working conditions, such as number of hours of work, number of working days a week, life partner and regular physical activity. Materials and methods: Nearly 400 orthodontists were given the self-administered questionnaire along with Nordic questionnaire and 279 returned the filled questionnaire form and the response rate was 69.25%. Two of the questionnaire forms were rejected as they provided incomplete data. Eighty two percent of the respondents were male and 18% were female. The results showed that 41% (n = 108) of the respondents were suffering from work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Wrist pain and low back pain (40%) are the most prevalent MSD, followed by neck and shoulder trouble. The descriptive data were analyzed and Chi-square test was used for statistical significance (p < 0.05). The presence of WMSD was related to some of the variables mentioned above. Comorbidity of the musculoskeletal pains is noted. Around 37.2% of the study is suffering from more than one type of body pain, out of which 4% reported more than four anatomic sites. Conclusion: The findings are alarming and proper formal educational training in ergonomics is necessary to minimize the work-related musculoskeletal conditions.