The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain & its associated factors among female Saudi school teachers.
Pak J Med Sci. 2014 Nov-Dec;30(6):1191-6. doi: 10.12669/pjms.306.5778.
Abdulmonem A1, Hanan A2, Elaf A3, Haneen T4, Jenan A5.
95 % return of distributed questionnaires to female teachers
(pain might be a problem)
Pain – severe | Deficiency | OK level |
Neck | 16% | 8.6% |
Shoulder | 29% | 13% |
Elbow | 8.5% | 1.4% |
Wrist | 25% | 10% |
Upper back | 25% | 10% |
Lower back | 50% | 21% |
Hip joint | 24% | 7% |
Knee | 38% | 14% |
Ankle | 18% | 4% |
Heel | 32% | 9% |
No definition in the study of deficiency, < 20 ng/ml?
Neither of the words BLOOD or SERUM are in the PDF (no blood tests?)
Neither of the words CLOTH or CLOTHING are in the PDF
The study says 40% of teachers wake up at night due to musculoskeletal pain.
The study does not mention pain for male teachers – who are NOT heavily clothed
The study concludes by recommending
“An appropriate exercise program” for the female teachers
OBJECTIVES:
To quantify the prevalence and identify the associated factors of musculoskeletal pain among Saudi female school teachers.
METHODS:
An observational quantitative cross-sectional survey of female Saudi school teachers in five different areas of Saudi Arabia was carried out between August and October 2013. A self-administered questionnaire was used in which the items related to participants' demographic information and pain information were included. A numeric pain rating scale was used for patient self-reporting of pain. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS Pc+ version 21.0 statistical software.
RESULTS:
Four hundred and eighty six female school teachers responded to the survey. Severe Low back pain was reported by 38.1% of teacher, followed by knee pain (26.3%), heel (24.1%), shoulder (20.6%), upper back (17.7%), hip joint (16.5%),ankle (12.3%), neck (11.3%). Sever pain of elbow (5.6%) and wrist (7.4%) was the least reported. Pain affected work at school in 46.1% of school teachers. A combination of variables: body mass index, Vitamin D deficiency, teaching level, presence of chronic illness, were found to be significantly associated with musculoskeletal pain.
CONCLUSION:
The results of self-reported prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among female Saudi school teachers is useful to educate the school teachers for adequate care so as to prevent these pains. There is a need for the higher authorities to address this issue and implement intervention programs to alleviate the pain and suffering of these school teachers.
PMID: 25674106
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
See also VitaminDWiki
- Overview Middle East and vitamin D
- If heavily clothed, very little vitamin D – Dec 2012
- Only takes 10 minutes of sun to make a month’s worth of vitamin D while wearing the Hijab (NOT) Oct 2014
Saudis have a LOT to learn about Vitamin D - especially with their heavily covered women - Hypothesis: Why so many females in the Middle East are now Vitamin D Deficient
NOTE: Saudi has the the most conservative dress code for women