PREVALENCE, RISK FACTORS, AND OCCUPATIONAL IMPACT OF MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG ORTHOPEDIC TRAUMA SURGEONS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY STUDY

Abstract

Surgeon injury and hazards have now become more of an issue primarily in orthopedic surgery. The reason as to why this research was done was to determine how prevalent orthopedic trauma surgeons are musculoskeletally injured and the type of injury they sustain, and whether the injury has any discernable effect on their career. A survey with a different degree of minor modification of the initial one (a physical discomfort survey) was sent to the members of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA), where 100 respondents were surgeons. The majority of the sampled were male (85%), and their right hand is the most frequently used (92%), and their greatest source of work was academic centers. The majority of the respondents (63%) stated that they were injured at work and the most prevalent was the low back pain. Surgeons above 45 years reported an increase in the cases of injury (75%), whereas the cases among younger surgeons were nearly 20% lesser (54.5%). Women operating were identified to get injured much more frequently than their male counterparts (84.6% vs. 61. 6) and the same was the case with right-handed surgeons who depicted a high number of injuries compared with the left-handers. The highest rate of injury was experienced by community surgeons and surgeons who practiced in more than one facility (76.1 and 80 percent respectively). Surgeons who handled injuries were forced to miss work as much as 27 percent of their workweek, those over 65 and those working in more than one institution (academic and private practice) had the highest number of missed work weeks. The correlation between the frequency of injuries in patients and the number of surgeries performed by a physician per year was not strong. Surgeons with a period of use exceeding ten years tended to have more than one of their body parts injured. These are the fact that in many instances they are required to deal with challenging, demanding and risky cases. They state that the operating room should be fitted with better ergonomic measures like body supports, taking frequent stretching breaks, use of microscopes to ensure good body position and use of power assisted tools to reduce the body strain. In case the ergonomics of the working environment is enhanced, the number of surgeons who develop musculoskeletal disorders might decrease and this will probably be beneficial to the wellbeing of the surgeons, the potential of the working population and patient care.