Investigating the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and focal points of pain in male employees of Iran’s traffic police headquarters

Employees of Traffic Police Headquarters suffer from musculoskeletal pain due to inactivity, sitting for a long time, and being sent to exhausting missions outside the province to solve the country’s traffic problems. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of focal points of pain in the employees of traffic police headquarters.

This descriptive-analytical research was conducted in 2022 at traffic police headquarters with an available statistical population of 200 employees. After a face-to-face interview and examination of pain points using a Nordic questionnaire and a body map under the supervision of a relevant specialist at the health center of traffic police headquarters, the desired data were collected. The data were analyzed by applying Pearson’s chi-square statistical test at a significance level of p<0.05, and SPSS 16 software was used to analyze the desired data.

In this research, 160 staff members with an average age of 39.00±3.31 years, average weight of 84.98±4.87 kg, and average height of 174.98±2.98 cm and 40 staff members with an average age of 39.00±3.60 years, average weight 89.98±2.51 kg and average height 172.86±3.71 cm were studied. The results in all the studied samples were as follows: the most reports of pain were in the back (58.00%), neck (44.50%), back (39.00%), and right knee (37.50%), respectively. Moreover, the left knee (37.50%) and the least reported pain were in the left ankle (9.00%), right ankle (13.50%) and left wrist (20.00%), respectively. The chi-square test results showed a significant difference in pain in the shoulder, wrist, thigh, knee, leg, and ankle on the right side of the body between the official and official operational groups (p<0.05). However, this difference in the left wrist, neck, back, and waist points was not statistically significant (p<0.05).

According to the job differences between official and official-operational staff, the focal points of pain in these two groups differ. Pain in the knee, shoulder, ankle, leg, and thigh joints is more prevalent in the official operational staff group than in the official group. On the other hand, pain in the wrist and forearm joints is more common in the official group than in the official operational group, but the prevalence of pain in the back, neck, and back is almost the same in both groups.