Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Pain and Body-Chair Mismatch among Junior High School Students in Ghana: A Risk Factor for the Young

Aim: To determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and body-chair mismatch among Junior High School (JHS) students in Ghana.

Study Design: This was a cross sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Ministry of Health Basic School (MoH), Korle-Bu, Accra Ghana, in May 2016.

Methodology: Two hundred and fifty-five (255) students were recruited for this study. The modified Nordic questionnaire was used to obtain the prevalence of musculoskeletal (MSK) pain information from the participants; a retractable tape measure was also used to measure the body and chair dimensions. All measurements were taken with the participants in T-shirt and shorts and in an erect -sitting position with feet (only socks) flat on the floor. The match-mismatch decisions were taken based on existing rules. SPSS version 22.0 and Microsoft excel 2010 were employed to analyze all the study variables.

Results: Two hundred and fifty-five (255) participants were recruited for this study, out of which 133 (52.6%) were males. The mean age of the participants was 13.11±0.98 years. The study comprised of 103 (40.4%) Junior High School one (JHS 1). The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain was 57.5%. There was a significant association between the students’ body-dimension and classroom furniture mismatch (p=0.001). Pain intensity level and the forms/level of the students were significantly associated. There was no significant difference between the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints and the sexes (p=0.522) and forms (p=0.895).

Conclusion: The result of this present study suggests that, there is a high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among JHS students in Ghana. The high mismatch of the school chairs implies that, they were acquired without ergonomic considerations which could be a risk factor for development of musculoskeletal pain in the young.