Department of Occupational Health and Safety Engineering, Workplace Health Research Center, Faculty of Health, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran.
Department of Occupational Health and Safety Engineering, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2024 Sep 2;25(1):692. doi: 10.1186/s12891-024-07820-4.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the broad acceptance of distance education (DE), with university professors and students conducting the teaching-learning process remotely from their homes. The propose of this study to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify risk factors associated with DE that may contribute to an increased incidence of these disorders among university professors.
This cross-sectional analytical study took a comparative approach and involved 310 university professors in Iran. Data were gathered using an online questionnaire. Initially, demographic and occupational information of the professors, hours of physical activity, and hours spent using electronic devices were recorded. Participants were then asked to report MSDs in various body areas throughout the previous year and the previous seven days. Finally, MSDs risk factors such as workstation ergonomics during computer, laptop, smartphone, and tablet use, as well as working postures during online teaching or offline content development during the COVID-19 pandemic, were examined.
The majority of the participants were male (66.13%), with a PhD (46.77%) and a faculty member position (74.2%). On average, the use of computers and laptops increased by 2.67 h and 2.72 h, respectively, during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic. This increase was statistically significant (P < 0.001). MSDs incidence increased significantly before and during the COVID pandemic was observed in the areas of the neck, shoulders, lower and upper back, arms, forearms, wrists and fingers (P < 0.05). The highest cumulative incidence (Cin) of MSDs was related to the neck (Cin = 24.20%), upper back (Cin = 21.29%), low back (Cin = 18.06%) and fingers (Cin = 16.13%). The prevalence of MSDs during the COVID pandemic was significantly associated with employment status (P = 0.042), work experience (P = 0.016), age (P = 0.027), increase in the use of computers/ laptops (P < 0.001), decrease of the smartphone/tablet distance from the body (P = 0.047), workstation (smartphone-tablet, computer, laptop) (P < 0.05), head position (smartphone-tablet) (P = 0.029), display height (computer/laptop) (P = 0.045) and physical activity (P = 0.006).
It appears that the increased duration of smartphone, computer, and laptop use, combined with decreased physical activity and detrimental changes in ergonomic conditions of workstations during the quarantine period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in a shift from dynamic to static tasks and an increase in the prevalence and incidence of MSDs among university professors.
新冠疫情大流行导致远程教育（DE）得到广泛接受，大学教授和学生在家中远程进行教与学。本研究旨在调查新冠疫情前后肌肉骨骼疾病（MSD）的流行情况，并确定与 DE 相关的危险因素，这些因素可能导致大学教授 MSD 的发病率增加。
本横断面分析性研究采用了对比方法，涉及伊朗的 310 名大学教授。使用在线问卷收集数据。首先记录教授的人口统计学和职业信息、体育活动时间和使用电子设备的时间。然后要求参与者报告过去一年和过去七天内各个身体部位的 MSD。最后，检查了 MSD 风险因素，例如在使用计算机、笔记本电脑、智能手机和平板电脑时的工作站人体工程学，以及在新冠疫情期间进行在线教学或离线内容开发时的工作姿势。
大多数参与者为男性（66.13%），具有博士学位（46.77%）和教职（74.2%）。与疫情前相比，疫情期间使用计算机和笔记本电脑的时间分别平均增加了 2.67 小时和 2.72 小时，这一增加具有统计学意义（P<0.001）。在疫情前后，颈部、肩部、上下背部、手臂、前臂、手腕和手指等部位的 MSD 发生率显著增加（P<0.05）。MSD 累积发病率最高的是颈部（Cin=24.20%）、上背部（Cin=21.29%）、下背部（Cin=18.06%）和手指（Cin=16.13%）。新冠疫情期间 MSD 的患病率与就业状况（P=0.042）、工作经验（P=0.016）、年龄（P=0.027）、计算机/笔记本电脑使用时间增加（P<0.001）、智能手机/平板电脑与身体的距离缩短（P=0.047）、工作站（智能手机-平板电脑、计算机、笔记本电脑）（P<0.05）、头部位置（智能手机-平板电脑）（P=0.029）、显示屏高度（计算机/笔记本电脑）（P=0.045）和体育活动（P=0.006）显著相关。
似乎智能手机、计算机和笔记本电脑使用时间的增加，加上疫情隔离期间体育活动减少以及工作站人体工程学条件的不利变化，导致了从动态任务向静态任务的转变，大学教授 MSD 的患病率和发病率增加。
