Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among the Surgeons in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Musculoskeletal pain is common among the surgeon’s communities. Prolonged physical activity, longer working hours, repetitive movements, and awkward positions during surgery are associated with MSK pain. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to determine the occupation-related musculoskeletal disorders among the surgeons working in Bangladesh. Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out from May to July of 2023. The purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from 159 surgeons who were working at different hospitals. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) were used to collect data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 was used for analysis. Results: The mean age ± SD of the surgeons was 35.82 ± 6.95. The majority of the surgeons (65.4%) were in the age range of 26 to 35 years. Out of 159 respondents, the majority (76.1%) were males, 64.2% were overweight, whereas 42.8% of respondent’s worked daily from 6 to 8 hours. The majority of respondents (78.6%) working position was standing, and 39.6% of them had no chance to take rest at work place. The maximum participants (57.90%) had lower back pain, while 25.8% of participants had been prevented from doing their normal work due to pain. There was no association found among the severity of pain with BMI (p = 0.184) and working hours (p = 0.188) of the surgeons. Conclusion: The results of the study revealed that the majority of the surgeons had moderate musculoskeletal pain. It becomes apparent that MSK pain is prevalent among Bangladeshi surgeons.