Influence of physical strain on the incidence of musculoskeletal pain among intensive care unit nurses

Aim
Intensive care unit performs specialized services to provide care to patients in life-threatening conditions. The process of patient care and the associated high volume of activities requires nurses to be in good physical condition and is often the cause of overloading the body. The aim of this paper was to assess the impact of physical strain on the incidence of musculoskeletal pain among intensive care unit nurses.

Material and methods
The study was conducted using the CAWI method in a group of 184 active nurses working in an intensive care unit in Poland. The research tool was a proprietary survey questionnaire and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain rating scale. The level of statistical significance was taken as p<0.05.

Results
Back pain was experienced by 82.6% of the respondents. Spinal pain was most often located in the examined group of women in the lumbar section (57.6%) and in the cervical section (23.8%). 45.1% of the respondents had ever been treated for back pain. Pain experienced by the surveyed nurses assessed on a ten-point VAS scale was at an average level and amounted to 5.62 points. ± 2.62pts.

Conclusions
As a result of physical strain, nurses experience a significant level of pain, generally localized to the lumbar spine. Age and length of service influenced the severity of musculoskeletal pain in the study group. Knowledge of the principles of ergonomics at work has no significant effect on the incidence of back pain, slightly more pain was experienced by nurses who took breaks from work less frequently.