Prevalence of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD) Among Office Workers in University of Cyberjaya

Introduction: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are injuries or disorders of the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage, and spinal discs. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are MSD in which the work and work environment contribute significantly to the MSD, or the MSD becomes worse or persists longer due to the work condition. Objectives: This study aims to assess the prevalence of WMSDs and its associated risk factors, and relationship between WMSDs and socio demographic factors among office workers of University of Cyberjaya (UoC). Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among office workers from various departments in UoC who adhered to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were collected by hardcopy and online questionnaires. Results: Out of 126 respondents, the majority of them were female (61.9%), and Malay (69%). 88.9% of office workers in UoC have WMSDs. More than half of the respondents have neck pain (56.35%), followed by shoulder pain (46.83%), and lower back pain (46.03%). 71.42% of the respondents have ergonomic awareness and less than half of the respondents had previous injury (34.1%) contributing to WMSDs. Our study found that there is significant association between WMSDs and socio-demographic factors, which are gender and employment position (P = 0.03, P = 0.03 respectively). We also found that there is no significant association between work-related characteristics and WMSDs (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Considering that, we hope that our findings could provide supporting data to policy makers and relevant university management in promoting ergonomic awareness and implementing adequate ergonomic designs for their workers’ health to mitigate the risk of WMSDs.