Abstract:

Aim: This study was carried out to examine the physical activity levels, musculoskeletal disorders, and the relationship between them in nursing students who received distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: This descriptive and correlational study was conducted with 217 students between February and May 2021. Data were collected electronically with the “Individual Characteristics Form”, “Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire” and “International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) short form”. The data were analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis Test, Spearman Correlation Test, and descriptive statistics. The significance level was accepted as 0.05. Results: The median score of students' International Physical Activity Questionnaire was 933.0; the median score of students' Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire was 4.50. It was found that male students had a significantly higher IPAQ-high-intensity physical activity level than female students and students studying in the first year compared to students studying in the second year (p<0.05). It was also determined that the median score of female students' Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire was significantly higher than male students (p<0.05). There was no significant relationship between students’ physical activity level and musculoskeletal disorders (p>0.05). Conclusion: This study has indicated that students were minimally active during the pandemic, they did not experience a common musculoskeletal disorder and female students had more musculoskeletal disorders than male students.

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