Asia Pacific Environmental and Occupational Health Journal

Objective: This study was regulated to scrutinize prevalent of the musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among employees of different hospitals in Bangladesh.
Method: Six hundred forty five staffs from four different hospitals were included in this study. Eight departments namely physician, dental, administration, nursing, physiotherapy, laboratory, radiology and housekeeping were enlisted in this study. A modified Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was distributed among study population.
Result: The result revealed that the prevalence of MSD was eminent in lower back (58%), neck (28%) and shoulder (15%) for the previous 12 months followed by lower back (31%), elbow (2%), and wrist (5%) correspondingly, for the Previous 7 days. The odds of developing musculoskeletal disorders of female are 1.31 in neck, 1.42 in shoulder, 1.23 in elbow, 1.2 in wrist/finger, 2.65 in back pain analogize to male participants. Strong association was found in low back pain with education status with diploma in back pain (OR = 4.70), daily hours of sleep with ≥ 6 in back pain (OR = 3.02), length of working years >5 in wrist/finger pain (OR=3.05) and physical exercise in neck pain (OR=3.22).
Conclusion: Results imply that healthcare workers as radiographers, dentists, housekeepers, Physiotherapists, nurses experience MSD risks most through work tasks. These comprise uncomfortable posture during patient managing, hand task, and forceful work. Hence, an user friendly system, upgrading on the job pattern and work interval are needed in order to reduce the MSD risks.