Disorders of the musculoskeletal system are common in physical therapist. Physical therapist are exposed to occupational risk factors leading to work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMD). Back pain is an especially frequent complaint. The purpose of this study=was to determine the prevalence and anatomical areas of WMD and the job factors that may be associated with these disorders in physical therapists. An 2page questionnaire was used. 105 physical therapist responded. Despcriptive statistics, Chi-square analysis and odds ratio were used.
The results were as follows:
1. Ninty-nine respondents(94.2%) reported experiencing WMD.
2. The highest prevalence of WMD in physical therapist were in the following areas low back(74.7%), shoulder(66.6%), neck and wrist(41.4%).
3. The prevalence of WMD was affected by age, years as physical therapist, and number of patients.
4. The-job factor rated most problematic for physical therapists was "performing th same task over and over°(4.1,3%), "treating an excessive number of patients in I day"(39.5%)
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