A study on neck pain and low back pain among the undergraduate students of a medical college in Bhopal, India

Introduction: Development of musculoskeletal disorders at a younger age is a potential risk of developing chronic low back pain in adulthood. The present study was planned with the purpose to know the extent of the less studied musculoskeletal disorders as a health problem among Indian medical students. The study was conducted to assess the prevalence of low back and neck pain among medical students and, to find the associations of low back and neck pain with quality-of-life issues, self-perceived stress and lifestyle. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Bhopal, India from May to July 2019. A total of 220 medical students were randomly selected. A questionnaire including the pre-validated instruments viz. Oswestry Disability Index, Visual Analog Scale and Perceived Stress Scale-10 were used to collect the data. Frequency (percentage), mean (SD), Chi square test, One way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient were used to statistical inference. Microsoft Excel software 2016 and SPSS version 23 were used for data analysis. Significant level were considered 5 % Results: The overall prevalence of Low Back and Neck Pain were 49.1% and 56.4% respectively. A significant association of female gender was found with Neck and Low Back Pain. Low Back and Neck Pain were related to BMI and Stress (p 0.05). Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of low back pain and neck pain in medical students at Bhopal. Females were affected more than males. Complaint of lower back pain was more than neck pain. Playing outdoor sports and weightlifting was found to be having protective effect on low back pain and neck pain.