Musculoskeletal pain and its relation to individual and work-related factors: a cross-sectional study among Turkish office workers who work using computers.

Office workers are commonly exposed to work-related musculoskeletal pain. This study investigated the individual and work-related risk factors linked to musculoskeletal pain and pain-related disability among Turkish office workers who work using computers. One-hundred and fifty office workers were included. Data were collected using an online survey with a combination of the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire, Oswestry disability index (ODI), neck disability index (NDI) and disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and hand questionnaire short-form (Q-DASH). The participants were divided into four subgroups: no pain (= 26), lower back pain (= 37), neck pain (= 49) and upper-extremity pain (= 38). There were differences between subgroups in terms of the condition that feet touch the floor and the condition that the keyboard, mouse and wrist are in a straight line (= 0.013 and = 0.025, respectively). Working years was correlated with the ODI score (= 0.802, = 0.041). There was also a significant correlation between the NDI score and working hours (= 0.415, = 0.003), while Q-DASH was correlated with body mass index and working years (= 0.406, = 0.014, and = 0.327, = 0.043, respectively). Pain-related disability was associated with various risk factors such as physical inactivity, body mass index, working hours, working years and workplace ergonomics in the office workers.