Page 78 - Petelin, Ana. 2020. Ed. Zdravje delovno aktivne populacije / Health of the Working-Age Population. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 78
avje delovno aktivne populacije | health of the working-age population 76 Introduction
The term musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) refers to any discomfort, problem,
or pain in the musculoskeletal system (Korhan and Memon, 2019). Joint and
back pain are the most commonly self-reported impairments to health among
the population of Slovenia and other developed parts of the world (NIJZ, 2014).
The prevalence of lifelong back pain is 70 to 80 percent, and the prevalence is 25
to 45 percent in one year. At any given time, 15 to 20 percent of people experi-
ence back pain (Vengust, 2014). According to the World Health Organization,
as many as 20% to 30% of people in the world live with muscle and joint pain,
with lower back pain predominating (WHO, 2019).
Risk factors for the emergence of MSDs are different and can act alone
or in combination (Voglar and Šarabon, 2014). We roughly divide them in-
to three groups (Voglar and Šarabon, 2014; Zamri et al., 2017; Jaafar and Rah-
man, 2017): personality, psychosocial, and physical. Given that the nature of the
educator’s work is intertwined with all three groups of risk factors, it is possi-
ble to conclude that educators often have MSDs. Physical risk factors are most
commonly associated with back pain due to the lifting and carrying children
as well as moving furniture and sports equipment (Doan et al., 2017). Psycho-
social risk factors are associated with educators’ occupations due to time pres-
sures, meeting children’s needs, coping with conflict situations, working with
children’s parents, and maintaining positive interpersonal relationships during
the simultaneous employment of an educator and an assistant (Ng et al., 2019).
Working with children requires responsibility, a lot of energy, attention, alert-
ness, sensitivity, and empathy, and so both stress and burnout occur among ed-
ucators (Sottimano et al., 2018). However, personality risk factors do not repre-
sent significantly different adjustments and treatments as in other occupations.
Frequency indices, which show the number of cases of absence from work
due to diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, were slight-
ly lower in the education sector until 2013 compared to all other business activ-
ities, and from 2014 up to and including 2018, they exceeded the values apply-
ing to all employees in Slovenia (National Institute of Public Health, 2019). In a
systematic review of the literature, Erick and Smith (2011) found that the preva-
lence rate of MSDs among teachers and educators ranges between 40% and 95%.
Among the most endangered body segments are injuries to the back, neck, and
upper extremities.
Due to the prevalence of MSDs and growing problems in the education
sector, and due to the simultaneous and intertwined risk factors for the devel-
opment of MSDs among educators in this study, we wanted to find out how of-
ten and how intensely educators feel pain in muscles and joints, which parts of
the body are most often affected and what the connection is of perceived pain
with various risk factors.
The term musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) refers to any discomfort, problem,
or pain in the musculoskeletal system (Korhan and Memon, 2019). Joint and
back pain are the most commonly self-reported impairments to health among
the population of Slovenia and other developed parts of the world (NIJZ, 2014).
The prevalence of lifelong back pain is 70 to 80 percent, and the prevalence is 25
to 45 percent in one year. At any given time, 15 to 20 percent of people experi-
ence back pain (Vengust, 2014). According to the World Health Organization,
as many as 20% to 30% of people in the world live with muscle and joint pain,
with lower back pain predominating (WHO, 2019).
Risk factors for the emergence of MSDs are different and can act alone
or in combination (Voglar and Šarabon, 2014). We roughly divide them in-
to three groups (Voglar and Šarabon, 2014; Zamri et al., 2017; Jaafar and Rah-
man, 2017): personality, psychosocial, and physical. Given that the nature of the
educator’s work is intertwined with all three groups of risk factors, it is possi-
ble to conclude that educators often have MSDs. Physical risk factors are most
commonly associated with back pain due to the lifting and carrying children
as well as moving furniture and sports equipment (Doan et al., 2017). Psycho-
social risk factors are associated with educators’ occupations due to time pres-
sures, meeting children’s needs, coping with conflict situations, working with
children’s parents, and maintaining positive interpersonal relationships during
the simultaneous employment of an educator and an assistant (Ng et al., 2019).
Working with children requires responsibility, a lot of energy, attention, alert-
ness, sensitivity, and empathy, and so both stress and burnout occur among ed-
ucators (Sottimano et al., 2018). However, personality risk factors do not repre-
sent significantly different adjustments and treatments as in other occupations.
Frequency indices, which show the number of cases of absence from work
due to diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, were slight-
ly lower in the education sector until 2013 compared to all other business activ-
ities, and from 2014 up to and including 2018, they exceeded the values apply-
ing to all employees in Slovenia (National Institute of Public Health, 2019). In a
systematic review of the literature, Erick and Smith (2011) found that the preva-
lence rate of MSDs among teachers and educators ranges between 40% and 95%.
Among the most endangered body segments are injuries to the back, neck, and
upper extremities.
Due to the prevalence of MSDs and growing problems in the education
sector, and due to the simultaneous and intertwined risk factors for the devel-
opment of MSDs among educators in this study, we wanted to find out how of-
ten and how intensely educators feel pain in muscles and joints, which parts of
the body are most often affected and what the connection is of perceived pain
with various risk factors.
