Muhammad Osama.
Musculoskeletal Discomfort among Undergraduate Students.
Int J Rehab Sci Jan ;06(01):44.

Background: Development of musculoskeletal discomfort is prevailing in undergraduate university students due to exposure to numerous risk factors. These include prolonged study intervals, sedentary lifestyle, poor posture and regular computer use. This musculoskeletal discomfort is responsible for marked reduction in study performance of students along with loss of productivity. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence of musculoskeletal discomfort among undergraduate students and associated study interference. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 at Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University on 162 students, who were included in the study via simple random sampling. Sample size was calculated keeping 5% margin of error, 95% confidence interval, 366 population size and 75% response distribution. Undergraduate full time students, aged 17-25 years were included in the study. Students having any congenital anomalies, amputations, recent history of physical trauma or burn and any musculoskeletal disorder were excluded from the study. ?Student Specific Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire? was used as data collection tool. Data was analyzed using SPSS v21.0. Results: A total of 136 students responded to the questionnaire resulting in a response rate of 82%. The mean age of the participants was 20.3 years, among which 26 (19.1%) were males and 110 (80.9%) were females. The most common site of musculoskeletal discomfort was neck 75.7% (103), lower back 62.5% (85), upper back 58.8% (80), and right shoulder 52.9% (72) which caused study interference in 54.4%, 43.5%, 39% and 34.6% of the students respectively. The most common site of symptoms according to region was neck in the axial skeleton, right shoulder in upper extremity and hips/buttocks in the lower extremity. Conclusion: Musculoskeletal discomfort is very common among undergraduate students, resulting in adverse effects on academic activities. Postural and ergonomic awareness is essential in order to evade the rapidly increasing rates of muscular discomfort among students.

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