Abstract:

Objective: Aim of the study is to determine the incidence of low back pain (LBP) and risk factors in nurses working in a university hospital. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 253 nurses working in a university hospital. The data were collected by questionnaire. The questionnaire form has two parts. First part includes demographics, work related risk factors, presence/severity of LBP, factors that cause LBP and training in using low back at work. Second part includes Oswestry Disability index (ODI). Descriptive statistics are presented as number, percentage, median (minimum-maximum). Chisquare test, binominal logistic regression analysis was used for analysis. Results: The prevalence of ongoing LBP is 21.1%. According to the ODI score, mild disability was found in 44.9%. The percentage of nurses who have been trained in using back exercises at work is 32.8%. The prevalence of LBP was higher among the elderly, married ones, nurses with trauma stories, pregnancy stories, daytime workers and nurses who worked for more than 10 years (p<0.001). Trauma story and working more than 10 years in profession increase the risk (p<0.05). Conclusion: Health workers, especially nurses, should be educated about awareness of risk factors at work, using of low back at work and trainings on simple exercises that can be done at work; the working conditions of nurses should be revised in line with the risk factors; ergonomic working environment should be provided. With these approaches, health workers’ life quality can be increased and the loss of work power caused by pain will be minimized and financial losses will be prevented.

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