The Survey of Prevalence of Vertebral Column Pain and Some Related Factors in Nurses Employed in Gonabad Hospitals

Musculo-skeletal disorder is an occupational disease. It occurs due to the inappropriate conditions in the workplaces. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of low back pain and some related factors in nurses employed in Gonabad hospitals. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional research. It was carried out on 93 nurses who were working in Gonabad hospitals in 2010. The data were collected by a self-made questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS V.14 using descriptive statistics, Chi–square and t–student. 61.3% (57 persons) of the patients were women and 38.7% (36 persons) men. 20% of them had another part time job in addition to nursing. 76.3% of cases had some knowledge about proper care of vertebral column although 12.9% used these cares. 50.5% of cases were also suffering from at least one type of low back pain. Lower vertebral column pain was the most common type of low back pain. There was a significant statistical relationship between pain and years of work (p=0.01).There was a significant statistical relationship between pain and age (p=0.001), pain and sex (p=0.02), pain and BMI (p=0.05), as well. Nurses with back pain had greater knowledge than those without the pain. High prevalence of vertebral column pain suggests the necessity for proper planning to reduce pain in the vertebral column. Regarding the effect of BMI on vertebral column pain, planning for weight reduction is necessary.