Dor musculoesquelética e estresse em estudantes de graduação da área da saúde

Abstract

Musculoskeletal pain is considered a public health problem and is becoming increasingly present in the lives of individuals. In the academic environment, undergraduate students in the health area are exposed to risk factors, both physical and psychological, for the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Given the above considerations, this study was intended to analyze the association between musculoskeletal pain and stress in undergraduate students in the health area. This is a cross-sectional research involving 792 Nursing, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy, Medicine, Dentistry and Occupational therapy undergraduate students from a public university in the South of Brazil. Data collection took place from April to July 2017. We used a questionnaire with sociodemographic and academic questions, as well as on habits and health; the Brazilian version of the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire and the Perceived Stress Scale. Regarding data analysis, we used descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariate analyses, using Chi-squared test, T-test and Poisson regression, adopting p˂0.05 associations as significant. As a result, we noted that the highest prevalence of pain was in the spinal cord region, with 74.9%. The variables on female gender, age between 18 and 20 years, overweight, not having time for leisure, using the cell phone six or more hours daily, having clinical condition with medical diagnosis and being in intermediate or final semesters were associated with musculoskeletal pain, as well as showed higher prevalence rates. We also found an average of stress perception among students of 30.22 (± 8.47), of which 9.5% classified as high stress. The data showed a statistical difference between musculoskeletal pain and stress. We conclude that the students are inserted in the academic environment with a high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain, among which there is a portion that shows high level of stress perception during the journey of the undergraduate courses. Moreover, we perceived that the prevention of musculoskeletal symptoms runs through the psychological aspects of the students. Accordingly, we can highlight the importance of the development of preventive actions and the promotion of the health of the undergraduate students in the health area.