The relationship between burnout and musculoskeletal pain in seven Norwegian occupational groups

Occupational and gender differences were investigated in the relationship between burnout and musculoskeletal pain in the head, neck, shoulders, and back. Representative samples of lawyers, physicians, nurses, teachers, church ministers, bus drivers, and information technology workers in Norway (N=4507) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The exhaustion dimension of burnout was positively associated with musculoskeletal pain in all groups, and the strength of the relationship ranged from moderate to strong. The disengagement dimension of burnout was negatively associated with musculoskeletal pain in five groups and only ranged from -0.15 to -0.42. Professional efficacy was slightly weaker, and inconsistently (i.e., both positively and negatively) associated with musculoskeletal pain in four of the groups. There were larger differences in the strength of the relationships between the seven occupational groups than between males and females within the same profession. Results suggest that burnout and musculoskeletal pain are related, but the strength of the associations varies according to gender and occupation. Overall, occupational factors appear to be stronger predictors of the co-occurrence of burnout and musculoskeletal pain than gender.