Prevalence of Pain and Musculoskeletal Disorders in Diving Coaches (Recreational Diving) and Their Relationship with Musculoskeletal Disorders

Breath-hold diving has a long history in many countries and has been used to catch pearls and seafood. In the last few decades, diving has become a popular sports activity in throughout the world and educators around the world are training this recreational activity. Inappropriate working conditions, long working hours, use of heavy equipment for a long time and frequently, working in awkward postures are the things that diving coaches always face when working. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and musculoskeletal disorders in diving coaches and their relation with musculoskeletal abnormalities.

In the present descriptive-analytical study that was performed on 57 diving instructors of Kish Island in 2019, samples were selected in full and 51 people from the study population participated in this study. In order to determine the prevalence of pain and musculoskeletal disorders from the standard Nordic questionnaire, to evaluate kyphosis and lordosis abnormalities from flexible rulers, cruciate ligament abnormalities and braces from the caliper and head forward abnormalities from AutoCAD imaging and body profile software were used. Descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation, were used to display the data, and inferential statistics, including Pearson correlation coefficient test, were used to investigate the relationship between abnormalities and musculoskeletal pain. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and Pearson correlation coefficient test.

The findings indicated that the highest frequency of pain in the neck region was observed with 33.3% and the lowest frequency of pain in the ankle region was 15.7%. Correspondingly, forward head anomalies were highest with 19.6% and genuvalgum abnormalities with a frequency of 5.9% had the lowest abundance. There was a positive and significant correlation between pain in each region of the body and abnormalities in that area. (p <0/000).

According to the findings of the present study, the presence of anomalies and, consequently, the presence of pain in different parts of the body of the diverchr('39')s coaches could affect both their working life and their normal life. In order to reduce musculoskeletal disorders and increase the performance of these people, The Professional Association of Divers could promote and improve the quality of work and non-work done by properly communicating with their coaches and supporting them and creating an appropriate environment for the continuing professional activity of coaches.