Nurses’ Practice of Physical Activity and Corresponding Experience of Musculoskeletal Pain and Burnout

Nurses face a variety of occupational challenges that place them at a higher risk of developing health conditions such as musculoskeletal pain and burnout syndrome, which lead to poor outcomes for both nurses and the wider healthcare system (Cañadas-De la Fuente et al., 2015; Soylar & Ozer, 2018; Muir et al., 2022; Zarei et al., 2016). Physical activity and resistance training have demonstrated efficacy as treatments and protective factors against musculoskeletal pain and burnout in a variety of populations, yet nurses have been shown to engage in these activities at disproportionately low rates (Augustin et al., 2023; Luan et al., 2019; Taylor et al., 2022; Priano et al., 2018). This study was a non-experimental, cross-sectional, observation study that sought to establish the presence of a relationship between physical activity with burnout and musculoskeletal pain. The study used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the Muscle-Strengthening Exercise Questionnaire Short Form, the Burnout Assessment Tool, and a study-specific assessment of musculoskeletal pain. Nurses who participated in this study were licensed members of the North Carolina Board of Nursing email list. This study found no statistically significant relationship between physical activity of any type with incidence of burnout or musculoskeletal pain. This population participated in relatively low amounts of physical activity, relatively high amounts of musculoskeletal exercise, and had relatively low incidence of burnout and musculoskeletal pain. The findings of this study indicate a need for further investigation into the exercise practices of nurses and the relationship of those practices with conditions such as burnout and musculoskeletal pain.