Musculoskeletal disorders among nurses in teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services

Introduction
Musculoskeletal disorders have been considered as one of the most important causes of occupational injury and disability in the nursing profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of, and risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders among hospital nurses

Methods
A cross-sectional design was used to conduct the study on 615 nursing staff (Nurse-Assistant nurse-Orderly) in four teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services in Tehran. The samples were selected based on multistage sampling method. Personal and occupational risk factors were assessed. Data was gathered with a self-reporting questionnaire based on the internationally accepted “Standardized Nordic Questionnaire”. The self reported incidence of symptoms regarding musculoskeletal disorders was collected during one year.

Results
The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders according to the involved area was as the following: knee (64.2 %), neck (55.6%), upper back (53.7 %), lower back (54.1 %), ankle (44.6 %), hip (40.5 %). Regression analysis showed that “previous history of the symptom before the last year”, “BMI”, and “lifting patients” were respectively related to the musculoskeletal disorders.

Discussion
Overall, our study showed that musculoskeletal disorders are common among nursing professionals and represent an important occupational issue for the population under study.