Influence of Sedentary Lifestyle, Work-Related and Socio-Demographic Characteristics on Low Back Pain among Bank Employees in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2024-09
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Low Back Pain (LBP) is a common public health problem in the world. It is one of the causes of activity limitation thus leading to low productivity of employees in organizations. Occupations entailing many hours of sitting and use of computers for extended durations such as bank employees are more likely to encounter low back pain. This study therefore adopted a cross-sectional analytical survey design that sought to establish the influence of sedentary lifestyle, work-related and socio-demographic characteristics on low back pain among bank employees in Nairobi City County. The study was guided by the following objectives which were the prevalence of LBP and the severity of pain, the association between socio-demographic characteristics, sedentary lifestyle, work-related factors, and disability index, and how each is associated with low back pain among bank employees in Nairobi City County. Low back pain intensity was determined by use of the Pain Intensity Numeric Scale. LBP prevalence was judged by the use of the modified Nordic and Oswestry Disability Index Questionnaire to determine the disability level that was caused by low back pain. Sedentary lifestyle was tested by use of a modified Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Stratified, purposive, and simple random sampling techniques were used to select banks under study where 211 bank employees participated in the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to present the findings of the socio-demographic characteristics. The Hypothesis was tested using Chi-square and Spearman Rank Correlations at a significance level of 0.05. The chi-square measure of association was used to determine the sedentary lifestyle characteristics that may lead to Low Back Pain. Spearman Rank Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between working experience and daily working hours while the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to measure whether there were significant differences between the dependent and independent variables of the study. Findings indicated that the prevalence of LBP was 54%. Females reported the highest prevalence at 60.8% compared to males at 48.2%. The chi-square test indicated no significant relationship between age and LBP X2 (3, N=211) =6.3, p .098. The chi-square results showed a significant association between gender and LBP X2(1, N=211) =3.3, P=.045. The occurrence of LBP was significantly associated with working hours X2 (3, N=211) =6.0 p=.049. Work absenteeism and low back pain indicated a significant association X2 (1, N=211) =62.89, p=.000 while age and disability index indicated a significant association X2 (9, N=211) 20.71, p=.014. Results also indicated that disability index due to low back pain contributed to work absenteeism X2(3, N=211) =13.11, p=.004. Spearman rho indicated that the age of the participant was significantly related to discomfort level caused by LBP rs .229, P.001. Kruskal Wallis H test showed that there was a significant difference between working hours and LBP (H (2) =5.995, p .050. The study recommends that regular breaks be incorporated in banking institutions so as to mitigate the high prevalence of low back pain among bank employees
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science Physical Education in the School of Health Sciences Kenyatta University, September 2024
Supervisors:
1.Luka Waiganjo
2.Edwin Boit