Assessment of the musculoskeletal pain of mothers of disabled child

Disabled individuals can affect their surroundings in many ways. Mothers are under risk physically and psychologically more than other individuals due to the fact that they play the primary role to provide the necessities to the disabled. Specifically, the disabled individuals who cannot ambulate causes more physical burden on the mothers. In this study, we aim to determine the effect of the ambulation level of disabled children on the musculoskeletal pain that occurs on the mothers. We study on 50 mothers, 25 of which have disabled children who can ambulate, and 25 of which have disabled children who cannot ambulate. In the study, we did not include the disabled who cannot fully cooperate and adapt, and who are operated in the last year. After recording the demographic information of the individuals, the pain level evaluation is conducted by using the McGill Pain Questionnaire. The study is conducted on a group which has average age of 38.60 ± 7.46 years, average BMI of 27.24 ± 5.09 kg/m2. The study shows that the individuals mostly complain about the pains on waist, legs, neck, and arms, respectively. We could not find any correlation between the education and income level and the pain level of the individuals. The individuals state that the factors that reduce the pain are resting (48%), light exercising (16%), and taking medicine (16%), and the factors that increase the pain are lifting weights (40%), standing for a long time (18%), and working for a long time (18%). The mothers who are studied have average children of 2.5 (1-5) and there is a significant correlation between the number of children and the pain level (r=0.386; P=0.006). There is also a significant correlation between the age of children (rs = 0.304, p = 0.032) and the length of time of disability (rs = 0,299, p = 0,035) and the pain level. This study discovers that the age of the disabled child and the length of time of disability affect the occurrence of the musculoskeletal pain of mothers who have disabled child rather that whether the child can ambulate or not. Furthermore, if the number of non-disabled children besides the disabled child increases, it is determined that the pain level of the mother increases no matter the disabled child can ambulate or not.