Background and aims: Little attention has been given to musculoskeletal symptoms in the lower extremities among office workers. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between the self-reported prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the hip, knee and ankle/foot and individual, work-related physical and psychosocial factors.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in which 2000 office workers from 54 workplaces in Bangkok registered at the Social Security Office of Thailand received a self-administered questionnaire. Of those, 1428 (71%) returned the questionnaire. After screening for exclusion criteria, 1185 office workers were eligible for the study. The prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms in the hip, knee and ankle/foot was associated with certain individual, work-related physical and psychosocial factors.
Results: Mental demands and work repetitiveness were each significantly associated with the prevalence of experiencing hip symptoms. Suffering from a chronic disease, the average number of working hours/day, sleep quality and self-rated perception of air circulation in the office were significantly related to the prevalence of experiencing knee symptoms. Significant associations were found between the prevalence of experiencing ankle/foot symptoms and sleep quality, self-rated perception of the ergonomics of the desk and size of office space and frequency of feeling frustrated during the previous 4 weeks.
Conclusions: Results of this study indicated that several biopsychosocial factors were associated with a high prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms in the lower extremities among office workers. Further prospective studies are required to substantiate the observed associations.