Musculoskeletal disorders among first-year Ghanaian students in a nursing college

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and extent of MSDs among a sample of freshmen in a nursing college in Ghana.
Methods: A semi-structured self-reported questionnaire including the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was used to collect information on age, gender and musculoskeletal complaints among a random sample of 200 students at a nursing and midwifery college in the Eastern region of Ghana.
Results: Out of the 200 questionnaires administered, 160 were retrieved of which 3 were found to be incomplete and void, yielding a total of 157 evaluable questionnaires, a response rate of 78.5%. One hundred and ten (70.1%) students reported having MSDs in the previous 12 months, of which a total 88 (56.1%) suffered disabling effects, while 70(44.6%) students reported having MSDs in the past 7 days. The prevalence of MSDs in the different body regions was generally low with clustered distribution in the neck, upper back, wrists/hands and lower back.
Conclusion: Nursing students are at reasonably high risk of MSDs. Strategies to prevent this important public health problem amongst future generation of nursing students must be given utmost priority. This study provides the baseline data for more elaborative studies in the Ghanaian population.