ABSTRACTS

Background: Musculoskeletal symptoms (MSKs) are common disorders among both the adult and adolescent population. There have been studies on the prevalence of MSKs and associated factors among the adolescent population. Carriage of school bags is one of such factors. Previous studies have been carried out to determine the association between carriage of school bags and the occurrence of MSKs. However, report is lacking on the effect of the length of the school bags on the spine and the development of MSKs.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the weight of school bags carried by students and carriage characteristics and the occurrence of MSKs among the students.

Methods: Purposive sampling technique was used to select seven (7) schools within Benin city, and 400 students (51% male) were selected from each class with the use of random sampling. An adapted version of the Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic data, school bag weight and carriage characteristics and occurrence of MSKs. Descriptive and inferential statistics of Pearson’s correlation and Chi square were used to summarise the data. Alpha level was 0.05.

Results: Low back pain was the most prevalent musculoskeletal symptom (50%) in this study and shoulder pain was the least prevalent musculoskeletal symptom (35.75%). Weight of school bags was not significantly correlated with the prevalence of low back pain but there was a significant correlation with lifetime prevalence of shoulder pain (r = 0.152, ρ = 0.002), prevalence of scoliosis (r = 0.136, ρ = 0.006) and lordosis (r = 0.196, ρ = <0.001).

Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of low back pain, neck and shoulder pain and a low prevalence of scoliosis, lordosis and kyphosis among secondary school students carrying school bags in Benin city. Significant correlations were found between the weight of school bag and other carriage characteristics with the occurrence of MSKs.

Keywords: Musculoskeletal symptoms, school bag, adolescent, prevalence