Occurrence of Musculoskeletal Symptoms, Among Teachers of Special Education Institutes in Rawalpindi and Islamabad: A Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract
Background: Teaching students with mental, physical, and learning disabilities is a highly demanding nature of work, which often leads to varying degrees of musculoskeletal disorders worldwide. Nevertheless, there is a limitation of the studies focusing on the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms in this group. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms among special education teachers in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Pakistan.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among teachers of special education institutes.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2023 and June 2024. Two tools were used: the primary tool was the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), and the second tool was a socio-demographic questionnaire developed by the research team. With the use of Rao-soft, a sample size of 109 was obtained; however, data were collected from 150 special education teachers aged 24 to 50.
Results: The average age of the participants was 36 years (SD = 8.66). In total, musculoskeletal issues were reported by 66.3% of special education instructors. The most often impacted body parts within the previous 12 months were the shoulders (32%), lower back (35.3%), and neck (36.7%). On the other hand, lower back pain was the most common complaint reported during the previous seven days (19.3%).
Conclusion: Musculoskeletal problems were shown to be quite prevalent among special education teachers in this study, affecting 66.3% of participants. Most frequently, the neck was affected, then the shoulders and lower back. These results emphasise how crucial it is to improve workplace design, implement ergonomic interventions, and embrace preventive measures in order to reduce the likelihood that special education instructors in Pakistan would experience musculoskeletal complaints.
Keywords: Special education teachers, Musculoskeletal disorders, Musculoskeletal symptoms, work-related musculoskeletal disorders
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