| Author: | Shum, Siu-ling |
| Title: | Occupational risk factors for neck and shoulder pain among Hong Kong nurses |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations. Nurses -- Health and hygiene -- China -- Hong Kong. Neck pain. Shoulder pain. Occupational diseases. |
| Department: | Department of Rehabilitation Sciences |
| Pages: | ix, 56 leaves : col. ill. ; 30 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The objectives of this study were to explore the possible risk factors that contributed to the occurrence of neck and shoulder pain of nurses in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional study was conducted to 30 female nurses of the Canossa Hospital. Neck and shoulder pain was defined as the presence of any "aches, pains and discomforts" in both the neck and shoulder region, lasting for longer than a day during the past 12 months and causing problem in work activities. It was assessed through the Nordic Musculoskeletal Symptom Survey. Questionnaires were used to document the nurse's personal, psychosocial and perceived physical effort at work. The Borg's RPE exertion scale was used to evaluate the subject's self-perceived exertion level. The physical work load was evaluated by EMG recording of upper trapezius muscle fatigue before and after 1 shift of nursing duty. Results shown that the prevalence of neck and shoulder pain among Hong Kong nurses is high. Forward stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to model the risk factors with the prediction of neck and shoulder pain. The results indicated that task requiring moving / transferring light to moderately heavy objects continuously above waist height using upper limb (OR = 14.239), Rt Initial Medium Frequency (IMF) after work(OR = 1.213) and Lt IMF after work (OR = 0.765) were associated with the occurrence of neck and shoulder pain cases. Among these three risk factors that reached the 0.05 level, task requiring moving / transferring light to moderately heavy objects continuously above shoulder level using upper body only showed the highest odd ratio. An increase of one point in this risk factor was associated with a fourteen times greater chance of neck and shoulder pain occurrence that affect working activities. The present study suggested that the aetiology of neck and shoulder pain is both complex and multifactorial. Policy emphasized on the proper manual handling technique, posture awareness as well as educational program on ergonomic work station adjustment and targeted exercise program may be beneficial to lowering the incidence of neck and shoulder pain in this working group. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b22324112.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.49 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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