Publication:

Awareness regarding risk factors of low back pain among medical students in Punjab

Background Occupational health hazards are very common. With promotion of industrial life, the prevalence of low back pain has increased markedly during the past decades. Many factors at work could predispose people to develop musculoskeletal disorders. The goals of a medical school are to produce competent, professional doctors and promote health care of society. But during the period of medical training, students are exposed to stress, study problems, long training hours in hospital wards and clinics. In addition to the increasing use of computers in teaching and learning.

Methods This cross-sectional study will be carried out among medical students of new final year (n=145) in government medical college in Patiala Punjab during the period April 2018. Data collected from the students were analyzed and frequencies and percentage were presented for categorical variables.

Results Most of the students 68.27% had experienced back pain in 12 months period (excluding the premenstrual pain. Among 68.27% students 3.4% students suffered low back pain always, 10.34 % students suffered pain frequently and 58.62% students suffered pain seldom.

Conclusions There was high prevalence of LBP among medical students and many risk factors like lack of exercise, physical activities, carrying bag packs were present and it highlight a need for behavior change communication, education, counseling, and restructuring of the medical curriculum.