Occupational related low back pain in truck drivers

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Health - Miscellaneous, University of the Witwatersrand, course: Masters of Public Health in Occupational Hygiene (MPH), language: English, abstract: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of occupational-related LBP in a defined cohort of truck drivers and to ascertain if certain risk factors i.e. demographic factors of truck drivers, manual material handling (heavy physical work), static work posture, and perceived levels of whole-body vibration are associated with truck driving and LBP. The study design chosen was descriptive, cross-sectional, and quantitative. For the study, the widely established 'Standardized Nordic Questionnaire' (SNQ) was used to collect data. A total of 450 drivers participated in the study by completing the questionnaire. Occupational driving has often been associated with a high prevalence of low-back pain. Truck drivers in the petrochemical industry in South Africa are vulnerable to work-related low back pain because of the very nature of their job, and this vulnerability has to date not been quantified. The individual and job factors that contribute to causing this pain are diverse and might include prolonged sitting, exposure to whole-body vibration, heavy physical work, smoking, and other psychosocial factors.