Background: The purpose of this research is to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and their association with psychological stress among medical students at Taif University, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: A total of 640 medical students were selected by multistage cluster sampling. The data were collected by trained students using a standardized Nordic questionnaire and 10-k questionnaire. Statistical analysis was carried out using the statistical package (SPSS.21). Standardized Nordic questionnaire and 10-k questionnaire besides questionnaire assessing sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, study year, weight, height, smoking, marital status, chronic disease, and educational degree) were used.
Results: Among 640 medical students, 45.9% males and 54.1% females reported musculoskeletal pain, it was more prevalent among fourth - and sixth year students, in the last 7 days, neck pain was the highest site of complaint (33.4%) followed by low back pain (15.1%) and shoulder pain (12.8%). Prevention of work was highest due to neck pain (27.7%) and low back (25.1%) followed by knees (19.1%), the stress rate was highest in the second year (67.8%) and third year (67.3%) students followed by the sixth year (65.8%) students.
Conclusions: Musculoskeletal disorders are a common health problem reported by more than half of medical students, with a significant association with females and preclinical students. Stress is a common psychological problem that affects two-thirds of medical students. However, we found a nonsignificant association between the onset of musculoskeletal disorders and the level of stress among medical students.
Keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders; Saudi Arabia; stress; students; universities.
Copyright: © 2021 International Journal of Preventive Medicine.