Effect of COVID-19 virus on Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders of Faculty Members of Yazd University

Jafari-Nodoushan, AbbasAli; Bagheri, Golnaz; Mosavi Nodoushan, fatemesadat

doi:10.30699/jergon.8.3.1

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Volume 8, Issue 3 (Iranian Journal of Ergonomics 2020) Iran J Ergon 2020, 8(3): 1-12 | Back to browse issues page

‎ 10.30699/jergon.8.3.1

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Jafari-Nodoushan A, Bagheri G, Mosavi Nodoushan F. Effect of COVID-19 virus on Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders of Faculty Members of Yazd University. Iran J Ergon 2020; 8 (3) :1-12
URL: http://journal.iehfs.ir/article-1-745-en.html

Effect of COVID-19 virus on Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders of Faculty Members of Yazd University

AbbasAli Jafari-Nodoushan ^*¹

, Golnaz Bagheri²

, Fatemesadat Mosavi Nodoushan³

1- Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Meybod University, Meybod, Iran , a.jafari@meybod.ac.ir
2- MSc Student, Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Meybod University, Meybod, Iran
3- PhD Student, Curriculum Planning, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders, COVID-19 virus, Faculty members of university, Nordic questionnaire

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Introduction

Faculty Members of the university have a fundamental role in education and its quality. Working conditions of the faculty members have made them face severe musculoskeletal disorders. The spread of the COVID-19 virus, the closure of universities and the virtual education have made working conditions of the faculty members more difficult than before. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the virus on the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders of the faculty members of the university and the extraction of variables affecting the disorders.

Materials and Methods

This descriptive-survey study was conducted in 2020 on 220 faculty members of Yazd University who were selected by the simple random sampling method. Data were collected using the standardized Nordic questionnaire in two stages before and after the spread of the virus and were analyzed in SPSS 25 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL., USA) by paired sample t-test, independent t-test, and analysis of variance.

Results

Musculoskeletal disorders after the spread of the virus in most organs have increased significantly, so that frequency percentage in the neck for the three campuses has increased from 36%, 40%, and 31% to 55%, 52%, and 44 %. There is a significant relationship between gender, work experience, and teaching method with the prevalence of disorders. Most disorders were in the back, neck, and knees.

Table 1. Demographic information of the studied sample

Variable	Grouip	Frequency (%)	Minimum	Maximum	Mean
Age	Less than 35	6(2.7)	30	67	9.49±48.71
	35 to 45	60(27.3)
	45 to 55	112(50.9)
	More than 55	42(19.1)
Work experience	Less than 10	25(11.4)	1	30	9.57±19.25
	10-20	89(40.4)
	20-25	71(32.3)
	More than 25	35(15.9)
Body mass index	Slim (less than 19)	19(8.6)	16.57	34.12	10.81±23.40
	Normal (between 19 and 25)	125(56.8)
	Overweight (between 25 and 30)	70(31.8)
	Obese more than 30	6(2.8)
Gender	Female	47(21.4)
Gender	Man	173(78.6)
marital status	Single	25(11.4)
marital status	Married	195(88.6)
Pardis (Campus)	Humanities and Social Sciences	64(29.1)
	Engineering	80(36.4)
	Science	76(34.5)
How to teach	video projector	74(33.6)
	Board	95(43.2)
	Sitting	51(23.2)
Exercise and flexibility and stretching	Yes	40(18.2) 180(81.8)
Exercise and flexibility and stretching	No	40(18.2) 180(81.8)
Position at the university	science Committee	220(100)
	Head of Department	16(7.27)
	Executive posts	31(14.1)

Table 2. Couple comparison test of body organ disorders before and after the outbreak of the virus by university campuses

Body area	Campus	Mean	SD	Confidence interval		t- test	Sig
Body area	Campus	Mean	SD	High limit	Low limit	t- test	Sig
Neck	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.581-	2.054	0.308-	0.854-	4.193	*0.000
	Engineering	0.447-	1.215	0.287-	0.609-	5.458	*0.000
	Science	0.537-	1.350	0.359-	0.717-	5.910	*0.000
the shoulder	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.256-	1.040	0.118-	0.394-	3.652	*0.000
	Engineering	0.263-	2.342	0.048	0.574-	1.665	0.097
	Science	0.565-	2.213	0.271-	0.859-	3.787	*0.000
Forearm	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.259-	1.035	0.122-	0.397-	3.716	*0.000
	Engineering	0.344-	3.120	0.070	0.759-	1.637	0.103
	Science	0.140-	2.611	0.207	0.487-	0.794	0.428
Hands and wrists	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.667-	4.221	0.106-	1.228-	2.343	*0.020
	Engineering	0.372-	2.614	0.025-	0.719-	2.110	*0.036
	Science	0.262-	3.124	0.153	0.678-	1.246	0.214
Waist	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.266-	1.820	0.025-	0.508-	2.171	*0.031
	Engineering	0.255-	1.673	0.032-	0.477-	2.257	*0.025
	Science	0.186-	1.610	0.028	0.400-	1.714	0.088
Pelvis	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.308-	0.912	0.187-	0.429-	5.009	*0.000
	Engineering	0.376-	1.241	0.211-	0.541-	4.495	*0.000
	Science	0.344-	1.130	0.194-	0.495-	4.522	*0.000
thigh	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.326-	3.156	0.093	0.745-	1.532	0.127
	Engineering	0.069-	2.120	0.213	0.351-	0.484	0.629
	Science	0.105-	1.623	0.111	0.320-	0.956	0.340
Knee	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.726-	5.213	0.033-	1.419-	2.066	*0.040
	Engineering	0.625-	2.138	0.341-	0.909-	4.338	*0.000
	Science	0.501-	2.034	0.231-	0.771-	3.652	*0.000
Legs and ankles	Humanities and Social Sciences	0.368-	1.521	0.166-	0.570-	3.591	*0.000
	Engineering	0.341	2.298	0.646	0.035	2.198	*0.029
	Science	0.252	1.854	0.498	0.006	2.016	*0.045

* (Sig value is less than the significance level of 0.05)

Table 3. Independent t-test to evaluate the effect of variables on body organ disorders after virus outbreak

Variable Body parts	Gender			Marital status				Exercise and flexibility and stretching
		Confidence interval	Sig		Confidence interval		Sig		Confidence interval		Sig
	High limit	Low limit	Sig		High limit	Low limit	Sig		High limit	Low limit	Sig
Neck	0.241	0.109	*0.000		0.190	0.308-	0.314		0.627-	0.439-	*0.000
the shoulder	0.287	0.014	*0.001		0.241	0.220-	0.243		0.320-	0.261-	*0.000
Forearm	0.491	0.236-	0.091		0.241	0.393-	0.421		0.447-	0.113-	*0.021
Hands and wrists	0.287	0.014	*0.003		0.467	0.149-	0.106		0.232-	0.099-	*0.008
Waist	0.403	0.114	*0.000		0.062	0.520-	0.097		0.671-	0.402-	*0.004
Pelvis	0.389	0.095-	0.081		0.170	0.406-	0.266		0.376-	0.084-	*0.037
thigh	0.643	0.172-	0.264		0.319	0.257-	0.538		0.420	0.333-	0.241
Knee	0.492	0.376	*0.014		0.418	0.107-	0.251		0.351-	0.108-	*0.010
Legs and ankles	0.309	0.194	*0.035		0.098	0.296-	0.314		0.529	0.164-	0.082

* (Sig value is less than the significance level of 0.05)

Table 4. Analysis of variance test to evaluate the effect of variables on organ disorders after virus outbreak

Variable Body parts	Campus	Work history	Age	BMI	Teaching method	Position at the university
Neck	*0.008	*0.012	*0.034	0.270	*0.000	*0.037
the shoulder	*0.028	*0.001	*0.020	0.152	*0.017	0.394
Forearm	0.144	0.501	0.367	0.094	*0.039	0.275
Hands and wrists	*0.005	*0.023	0.091	0.383	*0.020	*0.032
Waist	*0.027	*0.014	*0.034	*0.024	*0.040	*0.015
Pelvis	*0.013	0.301	0.294	*0.010	*0.022	*0.031
thigh	0.514	0.606	0.702	0.290	0.659	0.547
Knee	*0.032	*0.008	*0.012	*0.004	*0.024	0.209
Legs and ankles	*0.016	*0.042	0.342	*0.014	*0.015	0.671

* (Sig value is less than the significance level of 0.05)

Discussion

According to the results of this study, the highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was observed in the lower back, neck and knees, respectively, which was consistent with the results of research by Gorgi et al. (2) and Riyahi et al. (7).
The findings of this study showed a significant effect of COVID-19 on disorders in various organs of the body except the thigh; in most organs, especially the neck, pelvis and knees; the disorders increased significantly and decreased only in the legs and ankles.
In addition, the results of this study showed that the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in women was significantly different from men; disorders in the neck, shoulders, arms and wrists, waist and knees, and legs and ankles were more common in women than men.
It is worth mentioning that exercise and flexibility and stretching movements had a significant effect on musculoskeletal disorders, which was consistent with the results of research by Rajabi et al. (1). Therefore, it is possible to reduce these disorders by encouraging teachers to do physical activities and daily exercises. In this study, there was a significant relationship between work experience and age with disorders in some organs of the body.

Conclusion

A small percentage of faculty members perform sports activities and daily exercises that by planning on them can reduce the disorders. The university can also prevent the centralization of education at a specific time by dividing the virtual education during the day and week and reduce the disorders.

Acknowledgements

The researchers hereby express their gratitude to all the professors at Yazd University and all those who helped us in this research.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Type of Study: Research | Subject: Other Cases
Received: 2020/08/23 | Accepted: 2020/10/18 | ePublished: 2020/10/27

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