[Aging of health workers and multiple musculoskeletal complaints]

The problem of ageing of health women workers and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) associated working activity is faced by studying the presence of two or more complaints in the back, upper limbs and lower limbs.

A survey, using a questionnaire (the shortened Italian version of the ESTEV-VISAT), was carried out in several wards of the geriatric hospital to determine the prevalence of MSD in a sample of health workers (nurses and physiotherapists). Several working conditions were considered: physical variables (awkward postures, heavy loads, rapid and frequent walking, etc), organisational (time pressure, to be interrupted at work, etc) and psychosocial (appreciation and recognition). Using both simple and multiple linear regression, the association between the presence of two or more complaints and cumulative index of exposure to 2 or more risks at work was evaluated. The importance of the age factor was also analysed. Ergonomic study was also carried out by observing whole work shifts.

The distribution of pain is mainly concentrated in the back (81% of the sample) but can also be consistently found in the upper limbs (39%) and lower ones (54%). More than 50% of the workers reported 2 or more complaints in different muscoloskeletal regions. In nurses these problems already appear before the age of 40, suggesting, for this professional category, a possible risk of pathological ageing of the muscoloskeletal apparatus. The presence of 2 or more complaints was found to be associated with physical cumulative index for physiotherapists and with organisational cumulative index for nurses. Ergonomic work analysis showed that caregiving determines the maintenance of awkward postures, such as stooping more than 45 degrees and bending and twisting the trunk for prolonged lengths of time (up to 5 hours consecutively), which represents a physical risk. Besides, the fact that the MSD are mainly associated with organisational characteristics of work, and especially with work pressure, suggests that greater attention must be given to work organisation.