Are Portuguese Dental Students at High Risk of Developing Occupation-related Musculoskeletal Disorders?

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2013

Authors

Maria Eugénia Pinho (Author) FEUP; José Reis Campos (Author) FEUP; Pedro Arezes (Author) FEUP; Mário Vaz (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: Occupational Safety and Hygiene - SHO 2013

Pages: 402-404

SHO 2013 International Symposium on Occupational Safety and Hygiene

Guimarães, 14 e 15 de Fevereiro

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Other engineering and technologies

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-009-RE8

Abstract (EN): High prevalence rates of musculoskeletal disorders have been found among dental practitioners and symptoms seem to appear soon after a short period of clinical practice. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among a cohort of Portuguese dental students and, since the nature of musculoskeletal disorders is multifactorial, the association between the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and some socio-demographic characteristics of the participants was searched for. Quite similar to the findings of other previous studies, over 90% of the participants reported musculoskeletal symptoms in at least one body region during the preceding 12 months and the most affected body regions were neck and lower back (67.0%), upper back (56.8%), shoulders (41.0%) and wrists/hands (33.3%). Despite some significant associations, the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptom was not found consistently associated to the analysed socio-demographic characteristics. This seems to indicate that further studies are needed to investigate the causes and mechanisms leading to the development of musculoskeletal disorders among these professionals, as well as to search for more effective prevention strategies.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

Notes: ISSN 2182-8482

No. of pages: 3