Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Pain among Sonographers in Makkah Province and Factors Associated with the Pain: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Work-related musculoskeletal pain is a serious public health issue affecting healthcare providers, particularly, sonographers. The lack of research into this issue, together with the limited knowledge of factors associated with pain among Saudi sonographers promoted the authors to perform this study.

Aim: To explore the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal pain and potential factors related to this disorder among sonographers.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study targeted 102 sonographers working in the Radiology Departments of hospitals located in the Makkah province from September 2019 to February 2020. The questionnaire comprised 27 questions- 11 questions related to demographic and psychosocial, nine on work scheduling and task factors (average time per scan and amount of job tasks), one on anatomical areas affected by pain over the last six months, six questions on work-related posture factors (position of the body during scanning). Bivariate analysis was considered to investigate the relationships between work-related musculoskeletal pain and potential factors affecting the musculoskeletal system of sonographers.

Results: The prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal pain among Saudi sonographers was 81 (98.78%), and the pain was located at a single or multiple body sites, with the highest being in shoulders (70, 86.4%), followed by lower back (61, 75.3%), hand and wrist (58, 71.6%). Mental stress was only associated with shoulder pain (p-value: 0.03), and demographic factors (institution type) were related to hand and wrist pain (p-value ≤0.003). Upper back pain was significantly related to work-related posture factors (p-value ≤0.008), and both work related posture factors, as well as task factors, have shown a significant relationship with lower back pain (p-value ≤0.04).

Conclusion: Work-related musculoskeletal pain is highly prevalent among Saudi sonographers and the pain from different anatomical parts were found to be associated with different factors including psychological, demographic, task, and work-related posture factors.