Are physiotherapy students at risk of Musculoskeletal Pain? A Study on Physiotherapy students of Government Physiotherapy College, New Civil Hospital, Surat.

ABSTRACT

Musculoskeletal disorders are common in physiotherapists and are continually growing. Many physiotherapists report the onset of musculoskeletal pain during undergraduate course. In fact, physiotherapy students are potentially exposed to the same risks as graduates. So this study is done to find out whether the physiotherapy students are having same musculoskeletal problems as graduate physiotherapists. The objective of the study was 1.) To study the prevalence and distribution of musculoskeletal pain among physiotherapy students at Government Physiotherapy College, New Civil Hospital Surat. 2.) To find out factors related with musculoskeletal symptoms among physiotherapy students. A crosssectional study was carried out at Physiotherapy College, Surat. A pre designed semi structured questionnaire was given to physiotherapy students of all four years (114 students). After signing the consent they completed the questionnaire which took approximately 20-25 min. Following Variables were collected age, sex, height and weight, year of study, pain and related factors. It was found that around 52% of the students had a musculoskeletal pain in last 12 months. Most common site of pain was lower back 22(37.29%), neck 15(25.42%) and upper back 11(18.64%). Dull aching was the most common pain among 39(66.10%) students. Prolonged standing was the most aggravating factor. As duration of study increased, number of students having musculoskeletal pain also increased. These findings suggest that physiotherapy students are having Musculoskeletal problems during their under graduate course itself. Some preventive measures and educational activities should be done during undergraduate course itself to minimize the problem in future.