Prevención de lesiones musculoesqueléticas en estudiantes que reciben clases en su domicilio de la carrera de Enfermería de la Universidad Estatal de Bolívar

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders are associated with repetitive work, which lead to a series of health problems ranging from minor pain to permanent patient’s disability problems. In consideration to the high prevalence of this type of problem, the present study evaluated the effectiveness of a program for the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries in students of the fourth semester of nursing career from the State University of Bolivar receiving classes in their houses. For this, a quasi-experimental investigation was carried out including 34 students who receive classes at home to whom a survey to collect information on sociodemographic variables and the conditions of the place where they receive classes was applied. Also, presence of musculoskeletal symptoms was determined by applying the Nordic questionnaire. After that, an intervention program consisting of capacitation about ergonomics, stretching and active pause for four consecutive weeks was applied. The 90.9% of the students reported some type of musculoskeletal pain, being more frequent in the neck (94.1%), in the lumbar region (79.45%) and the shoulder (70.6%), of the which most of the interviewees described intermediate pain levels in neck (41.2%), shoulder (29.4%) and dorsal or lumbar (29.4%), while the majority did not declare discomfort in elbow and forearm and wrist and hand. After the intervention, a tendency to decrease pain levels was observed in the different parts of the body evaluated. Based on the results, the positive effect of the intervention plan on the improvement of the musculoskeletal pain of the intervened patients is demonstrated, so it is suggested to apply this type of programs in other careers.