Relationship between Anxiety and Depression with Musculoskeletal Disorders in Military Personnel

The most common occupational health problems are musculoskeletal disorders, depression and anxiety in the workplace that affect the health and productivity of the personnel. Anxiety, depression and musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace have led researchers to carry out extensive research.
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between anxiety and depression with musculoskeletal disorders in military personnel.
This cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 70 military individuals in a military headquarters in 2016 using the census method. Data collection tools were the Cornell standard questionnaire for assessment of musculoskeletal disorders and the Goldberg questionnaire of anxiety and depression. Finally, the data were analyzed using descriptive-analytical statistics including Pearson correlation test and ANOVA test with the SPSS software version 20.
The results showed that the most musculoskeletal disorders were in the back (48%), thoracic (41%) and shoulder (37%), respectively. The scores obtained for anxiety and depression were 13.42 (2.05) and 12.74 (1.50), respectively, which showed that they were in a moderate level. The results of the Pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant correlation between anxiety (P=0.01) and depression (P=0.01) with musculoskeletal disorders so that with increased anxiety and depression, musculoskeletal disorders were increased.
Discussion and The results of this study show that there is a significant relationship between anxiety and depression with musculoskeletal disorders and necessary measures such as improving the ergonomic status of the workplace should be taken to reduce the anxiety and depression in the work environment.