PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS OF SHOULDER AND/NECK PAIN AMONG SCHOOL TEACHERS IN GONDAR TOWN, GONDAR, NORTH WEST ETHOPIA

Abstract

Introduction: Shoulder and neck pain is the common cause of morbidity and absenteeism from work among school teachers worldwide. School teachers represent an occupational group, which are exposed and appears to have shoulder and/or neck pain due to their daily work tasks and work nature. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of shoulder and/or neck pain among school teachers of Gondar town North West Ethiopia. Method: An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 8, 2016 to January 30, 2017 in Gondar town in Northwest Ethiopia. All primary and secondary school teachers in Gondar town, North West Ethiopia were the source population. Data was collected by self-administered structured questionnaire and physical measures like height and weight were measured by data collectors. The prevalence estimation was reported with 95% confidence interval. Independent variables which had significant association were identified using logistic regression analysis. Result: One year self-reported prevalence of shoulder and/ neck pain among school teachers was 57.3 % (432/754) with 95%CI (53.4%-61.0%). Regular physical exercise (OR= 0.18, 95% CI: 0.08- 0.42), teaching experience (OR=2.85, 95% CI: 1.09-7.42), static head down posture (OR=2.26, 95% CI: 1.55-3.33), elevated arm over shoulder (OR=2.71, 95% CI: 1.86-3.95), prolonged sitting (OR=1.50,95% CI: 1.02-2.23) and hypertension (OR=2.18, 95% CI: 1.24-3.82) were factors significantly associated with shoulder and/neck pain. Conclusion and recommendation: This study showed a common prevalence of shoulder and/neck pain among school teachers. Teaching experience, static head down posture, elevated arm over shoulder, hypertension were significantly associated factors of shoulder and/ neck pain among school teachers. Doing physical exercise was shown to have a protective effect against reported shoulder and/or neck pain. Further studies are recommended in order to verify the causes and risk factors of shoulder and/neck pain among school teachers.