Prevalence of Neck Pain and its effects on Activities of Daily Living among dentists working in Faisalabad

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic Neck Pain has become a severe health and socioeconomic problem in modern era. It is a leading cause of physical disability and about 70% of population experience neck pain in their lives. The neck pain is often associated with poor health, social disruption, psychological problems and previous neck injury. Dentists are at higher risk of musculoskeletal pain and disorders as they are vulnerable to mal-postures. There is still not enough data reported regarding prevalence of neck pain in dentists in different districts of Pakistan. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of neck pain in the dentist community of Faisalabad and to report its effect on activities of daily living.

Material & Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted on 50 dentists working in government and private hospitals and clinics in Faisalabad from January to June 2018. Participants with a history of major trauma, major surgery and other co-morbidities were excluded. Data was collected by using neck pain disability index. The collected data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS 20.

Results: The response rate was 100%, out of 50 dentists 30 (60%) were males and 20 (40%) were females with mean age 35.6 ± 2.00 years (mean ± sd). Our study revealed that 31 (62%) of the dentists in Faisalabad suffered from neck pain and the remaining 19 (38%) had no neck pain. Severity of the pain was reported as 18 (36%) had mild pain and about disability 14 (28%) reported no disability while 24 (48%) had mild disabilities. The study indicated that activities of daily living including to recreational activities were affected differently due to severity of neck pain amongst these dentists.

Conclusion: Dentists in Faisalabad are prone to develop neck pain due to their working poor posture. Male dentists are more vulnerable to developing neck pain compared to their counterparts' female dentists. Long-working hours are the major contributing factors in neck pain amongst dentists.