Assessment of risk of musculoskeletal discomforts in physiotherapists treating neurological patients: A pilot study

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are conditions that are caused and/or aggravated by work. The most important reason behind work-related musculoskeletal disorder is abnormal and/or stressful position of joints while working. Physiotherapists are very much prone to develop work-related musculoskeletal disorders, especially while treating neurologically challenged patients. Postural assessment is a key to identify a person at risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Proper assessment of some of the areas like neck, spine, upper and lower extremities is the key to get risk factor analysis. REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) is a tool which can be used on field to quantify areas of the body which are more likely to develop work-related musculoskeletal disorders. AIMS: To find out risk of MSDs among physiotherapists treating neurologically challenged patients. STUDY SETTING AND DESIGN: At neuro-paediatric department of SBB College of Physiotherapy, an observational pilot study was conducted. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Photographs of the participants were captured with their consent through smart phone camera during treatment of different patients both adult and paediatric. Selected postures were analysed and quantified based on the REBA sheet. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive analysis was done based on areas at higher risk for MSDs according to REBA sheet. RESULTS: More than 50% of participants were at moderate to high risk of developing MSDs. CONCLUSION: Physiotherapists working with neurological patients were found to be at high to medium risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. There is a need to assess MSD risk in detail in all physiotherapists.