Assessment of Shoulder Pain and Disability Among Computer Users of Administrative Section in Tertiary Care Centre, Puducherry

Introduction & Background: Occupational health is an area of public health to promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations (WHO). At workplace, a worker is exposed to many occupational hazards. Among these hazards, ergonomic-related musculoskeletal disorders are becoming a serious problem due to repetitive physical jobs with poor posture, improper body 2 mechanisms while doing the job, poor workstation, etc. Shoulder pain (49.6%) is one among the work-related musculoskeletal disorders next to 3 neck pain (60.3%) and back pain (59.5%) among the computer users. Chronic shoulder pain (63.3%) leads to shoulder disability (30.9%) in turn 5 reducing the ability to work (29.1%) and thus reducing the quality of work. So assessing for shoulder pain and shoulder disability among computer users will help to find the associating factors for the same. The exploration among the computer users will help the human resource managers to plan for wellness programs to prevent shoulder pain and early intervention to prevent disability. Methods: The objective of the study was to assess shoulder pain and disability among computer users of administrative section and to find its association with selected demographic variables in tertiary care centre, Puducherry. A cross sectional analytical study was carried out which included all the computer users in administrative department using Convenience sampling technique. Data was collected from 152 computer users by self administered questionnaire method using Shoulder Pain and Disability Index(SPADI). Results: Demographic variables analysis reveled that majority of computer users were age group of 31-40years (47.4%), male (75%), moderately built(75.7%), doing physical activity(77%), doing physical activities other than those mentioned in questionnaire(34.2%), doing moderate activity at home(52%), no co-morbidities(77.6%), those with co-morbidities hypertension(41.2%), mode of travel to work by bike(48.7%), designation as Junior Administrative Assistant(39.5%), area of work as Administrative Department(43.4%), comfortable work station(99.3%), type of computer used as HP (58.6%), computer user for 1-10 years(53.9%), moderate work allotment(78.3%), using computers for 5-10 hours of duration(77%), 1-3 breaks from computer per day(67.1%), less than 1 hour duration of break (85.5%), no need for shoulder pain management(73.7%), hot or cold application for pain management(42.5%). Analysis of shoulder pain and disability showed that 67.1% were having a shoulder pain score of 0-20% (67.1%), 80.9% were having a shoulder disability score of 0-20% and 73.7% were having a SPADI score of 0-20% . Inferential analysis showed that there is a significant statistical association between shoulder pain and disability index(SPADI) score with selected demographic variables like type of physical activity(p=0.033), co-morbidities (p=0.020) and doing pain management (p<0.001). Discussion & Conclusion: A major proportion of participats reported minimum shoulder pain and disability which were found to be associated with demographic variables like physical activity, co-morbidities and pain management.This shows that regular physical activity, no co-morbidities and adequate pain management if pain arises has significantly influenced to keep the shoulder pain and disability index at the minimum level among the computer users of administrative section in tertiary care centre, Puducherry. The study findings emphasize the need for being physically active, having no co-morbidities and effective pain management strategies will keep shoulder pain and disability to minimum and prevent as well.