Comparison of working posture and quality of life in teachers with and without low back pain

Our study was aimed to compare working posture and quality of life in teachers with and without low back pain. A total of 153 teachers were included in the study. The teachers with(Low back pain group, n:80) and without low back pain (Control group, n:73) were divided into two groups. Demographic data of teachers was recorded. Body diagram and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) in pain assessment of teachers with low back painwere used. The working conditions of all the teachers included in the study were questioned, the working postures with Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) method and the quality of life with Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire were assessed. Demographic characteristics (age, height, body weight, body mass index, gender) of the groups were similar (p>0.05). It was seen that teachers with low back pain had moderate low back pain (5.41 ± 1.43 cm). There was a significant difference between school level and working style in teachers with low back pain compared to those without low back pain (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the working years, the number of the advisor students, the daily sitting time, the standing time and the computer usage time in working of the groups (p>0.05). It was observed that the REBA scores increased and the quality of life scores of the teachers with low back pain decreased compared to those without low back pain (p<0.05). According to these results, it was seen that there was more low back pain in high school teachers than primary and middle school teachers. Especially, it was seen that teachers having low back pain had more full-time working style. It was seen that working posture impaired and the quality of life decreased in teachers with low back pain compared to those without low back pain. According to postural analysis scores, level of development of general musculoskeletal system problems were moderate and high in teachers with low back pain whereas level of development of general musculoskeletal system problems were low and moderate in teachers without low back pain. In conclusion, REBA is a rapid assessment method in definition of risk groups. It may be important for a rapid functional screening in non-spesific low back pain teachers, preventive health care systems and different occupational groups. Key Words: Low back pain, quality of life, teacher, working posture