The incidence of low back pain among healthcare students and their beliefs on its association with physical function

Abstract

The high prevalence rate of low back pain (LBP) among healthcare professionals causes frequent hospitalisation, work absenteeism, and early retirement. Healthcare providers’ beliefs about LBP are essential in the recovery process of patients suffering from LBP. This study was aimed to investigate the incidence of LBP among healthcare students and their beliefs on the association between LBP and physical function. A cross-sectional study was used to collect online data from all years undergraduate healthcare students of four programmes. The Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ-E) and Health Care Providers’ Pain and Impact Relationship Scale (HC-PAIRS) tools were used to determine LBP among the students and their beliefs on the impact of LBP on physical function, respectively. A total of 239 students participated in the study with a mean age of 21.90 years. Females (74.5%) outnumber the males (25.5%). Many students experienced LBP for a lifetime (82%) and last 12 months (55.2%) with initial onset at mid-teen-age. The physiotherapy and occupational therapy students experienced lower LBP during the last month and the day of data collection. The prevalence rate of LBP among males and females was the same, but higher among the seniors than junior students. Occupational therapy and physiotherapy students were found to have more negative and positive beliefs on LBP, respectively. The higher prevalence rate of LBP among the healthcare students requires appropriate interventions. The marginal positive beliefs among the healthcare students needs immediate actions to instil positive beliefs in them.