ABSTRACT

Back ground and objectives:Work activities in shipping port are known to be a physically demanding task. The risk of getting occupational related back pain among them is relatively high. Currently, there is limited data that can be used to determine the status of occupational related back pain among them in local setting. The aim of study is to evaluate the prevalence of occupational related back pain among shipping port workers.

Methods:This is a cross sectional descriptive type of study. The respondents were shipping port workers receiving physiotherapy treatment for their occupational related back pain at the shipping medical center. A set of questionnaire were distributed to gather their demographic data and back pain pain intensity.

Results:A total of 81 respondent eligible to this study with mean age of is 34.9 (±8.78), maximum pain intensity recorded was 5/10. Majority (n=59) of respondent seeking physiotherapy treatment were engaged with crane maneuver. The activity that increase the incidence of back pain is driving heavy vehicle (n=27) and adopting prolong trunk bending (n=20). There is no statistically significant (p>0.005) association between pain intensity, age,  body mass index (BMI) and waist measurement.

Conclusion:This study didn’t investigate employees knowledge and their working habit at workplace. Such factors cannot be denied and should be investigated to determine its relationship with occupational related back pain. Subsequently, a constructive preventive measures should be tailored accordingly in order to curb occupational related back pain among shipping port workers.

 Keywords:Shipping port workers, occupational related back pain, physiotherapy treatment.