<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Study aim: The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and explore possible factors associ­ated with LBP among Malaysian army personnel deployed in Klang Valley in the year 2018. Material and methods: A self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic data, occupational background, occupational exposure and LBP evaluation was used in this study. A total of 330 respondents participated in this study and 321 (97%) of them completed and returned the questionnaires. Results: One hundred and fifty-seven respondents complained of LBP, giving a prevalence of 48.9%. LBP was found to be associated with smoking status, history of LBP, history of accident, military rank, category of regiment, lifting weights, push­ing weights, pulling weights and job-related physical activity. Logistic regression analysis identified four associated risk fac­tors of LBP: history of accident (OR = 4.42, 95% 2.29-8.55), history of LBP (OR=1.92, 95% 1.11-3.31), combat regiment (OR = 1.97, 95% 1.14-3.42) and high job-related physical activity (OR = 2.35, 95% 1.31-4.20). Conclusion: Almost half of Malaysian army personnel stationed in Klang Valley reported LBP symptoms. Smoking status, history of LBP, history of accident, junior non-commissioned officers (NCOs), combat regiments, manual handling of objects and moderate/high job-related physical activity are associated with LBP, but there is no evidence of a temporal relationship in the current study. Further exploration with a longitudinal study is needed to identify a cause and effect relationship between occupational exposure and LBP among Malaysian army personnel.</p></abstract>

Study aim: The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and explore possible factors associ­ated with LBP among Malaysian army personnel deployed in Klang Valley in the year 2018. Material and methods: A self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic data, occupational background, occupational exposure and LBP evaluation was used in this study. A total of 330 respondents participated in this study and 321 (97%) of them completed and returned the questionnaires. Results: One hundred and fifty-seven respondents complained of LBP, giving a prevalence of 48.9%. LBP was found to be associated with smoking status, history of LBP, history of accident, military rank, category of regiment, lifting weights, push­ing weights, pulling weights and job-related physical activity. Logistic regression analysis identified four associated risk fac­tors of LBP: history of accident (OR = 4.42, 95% 2.29-8.55), history of LBP (OR=1.92, 95% 1.11-3.31), combat regiment (OR = 1.97, 95% 1.14-3.42) and high job-related physical activity (OR = 2.35, 95% 1.31-4.20). Conclusion: Almost half of Malaysian army personnel stationed in Klang Valley reported LBP symptoms. Smoking status, history of LBP, history of accident, junior non-commissioned officers (NCOs), combat regiments, manual handling of objects and moderate/high job-related physical activity are associated with LBP, but there is no evidence of a temporal relationship in the current study. Further exploration with a longitudinal study is needed to identify a cause and effect relationship between occupational exposure and LBP among Malaysian army personnel.

Prevalence and factors associated with low back pain among Malaysian army personnel stationed in Klang Valley

Biomedical Human Kinetics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Study aim: The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and explore possible factors associ­ated with LBP among Malaysian army...

Prevalence and factors associated with low back pain among Malaysian army personnel stationed in Klang Valley

Published Online: Jan 18, 2019

Page range: 9 - 18

Received: Sep 13, 2018

Accepted: Dec 06, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bhk-2019-0002

Keywords
Low back pain, Army, Occupational exposure

© 2019 Ebby Waqqash Mohamad Chan, et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Prevalence and factors associated with low back pain among Malaysian army personnel stationed in Klang Valley

Published Online: Jan 18, 2019

Page range: 9 - 18

Received: Sep 13, 2018

Accepted: Dec 06, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bhk-2019-0002

KeywordsLow back pain, Army, Occupational exposure

© 2019 Ebby Waqqash Mohamad Chan, et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Low back pain, Army, Occupational exposure