Abstract
Background:
Ophthalmologists are prone to develop neck and back pain. They use ophthalmology related diagnostic and surgical instruments in forward head posture, unstable back and sustained positions. Their perfect hand and eye coordination, fine manipulation work and repetitive tasks put stresses on the body especially on the spine.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey was conducted on Ophthalmologists at all three government tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar (HMC, KTH & LRH). We used convenience sampling with a sample size of 109 ophthalmologists. We excluded the optometrists and those ophthalmologists either having experience less than one year or not attending the clinic. OMPQ questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was collected between march and august 2019 and analysed using SPSS version 23. Chi-square test and spearman test were applied to calculate the correlations.
Results:
Out of all 109 ophthalmologists, 88 were males and the remaining 21 were females. The age ranging from 28 to 63 years. The neck pain was reported in 22 (20.2%) ophthalmologists, back pain was reported in 28 (25.7%), and combined neck and back pain were reported in 27 (24.8%) ophthalmologists. The remaining 32 (29.4%) ophthalmologists were pain free having no pain in the neck and back. There were significant correlations between OMPQ score and four demographic variables; age, designation, hours spent per week in OPD and number of surgeries performed per week.
Conclusion:
Neck and low back pain appear to be very common in ophthalmology community. Awkward and sustained posture for eye examination and surgery are main culprits for developing symptoms in the spine and upper body parts. The unsupported back and forward head posture using different diagnostic and surgical instruments in ophthalmology clinic for long time can cause discomforts. Adjusting the instruments according to their height and compatibility can prevent the pain to develop among ophthalmology community.