A Cross Sectional Study Among Information Technology Professionals of Vishakhapattanam City to Study the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Work Related Disorders

Abstract Background: The Information technology has revolutionized many changes throughout the society, and also in bringing up the economic growth of the country.IT professionals are prone to various job-related complaints and symptoms which can be reduced or eliminated by using proper ergonomics. The present study was carried out to study the prevalence of Musculoskeletal disorders among the Information technology (IT) professionals and to determine the factors associated with musculoskeletal problems. Objectives: 1.To study the prevalence of Musculoskeletal disorders among the Information Technology (IT) professionals. 2. To determine the factors associated with Musculoskeletal disorders among IT Professionals. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was done among 400 Information technology professionals of selected IT companies of Visakhapatnam city using multistage sampling technique. Structured Interview schedule was taken to collect socio-demographic, personal and working details of employees. Standardised Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to assess the work-related musculoskeletal symptoms in relation to various body regions during last 12 months and last 1 week. Results: The overall musculoskeletal disorders among IT professionals was 74% of which lower back (56.7%) is the most common body region affected in the last 12 months followed by neck (43%), shoulder (28.2%), wrist/hand (8.5%), elbow (5.7%), knee (4%) and ankle (3.7%). Conclusions: The study concludes that, prevalence of work-related health problems among IT professionals are of concern. Work related musculoskeletal problems were widely reported and it was observed that, individuals who have regular physical activity are less prone to Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).