Work-Related Low Back Pain Among Physical Therapists in the Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Participants
2.3. Questionnaire
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Sociodemographic, Professional, and General Health Characteristics
3.2. LBP Before Working as a Physical Therapist
3.3. LBP During Work as a Physical Therapist
3.4. Factors Associated with LBP During Work as a Physical Therapist
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Items | N | % | Mean | SD | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gender | Female | 98 | 64.9 | ||
Male | 53 | 35.1 | |||
Age | 28.7 | 6.1 | |||
Height (cm) | 162.6 | 16.1 | |||
weight (Kg) | 67.5 | 16.9 | |||
Nationality | Saudi | 134 | 88.7 | ||
Non-Saudi | 17 | 11.3 | |||
Medical disease before developing LBP | None | 133 | 88.1 | ||
Others | 8 | 5.3 | |||
Diabetes mellitus | 6 | 4.0 | |||
Hypertension | 3 | 2.0 | |||
Cardiac diseases | 1 | 0.7 | |||
Past medical treatment conditions | None | 136 | 90.1 | ||
Others | 5 | 3.3 | |||
Hypoglycemic (oral, insulin) | 5 | 3.3 | |||
Cardiac medications | 3 | 2.0 | |||
Antihypertensive | 2 | 1.3 | |||
Physical disability prior to developing LBP | None | 113 | 74.8 | ||
Musculoskeletal | 35 | 23.2 | |||
Neurological | 2 | 1.3 | |||
Both | 1 | 0.7 | |||
Area of specialty | General practice | 56 | 37.1 | ||
Orthopedics | 56 | 37.1 | |||
Pediatrics | 11 | 7.3 | |||
Neurology | 9 | 6.0 | |||
Home care | 6 | 4.0 | |||
Geriatrics | 5 | 3.3 | |||
Cardiology | 5 | 3.3 | |||
Others (e.g., sports, acute care) | 3 | 2.0 | |||
Years of experience as a physical therapist | 4.9 | 5.7 | |||
Work setting | General hospital | 57 | 37.7 | ||
Private clinic | 38 | 25.2 | |||
Private hospital | 28 | 18.5 | |||
Rehabilitation hospital | 12 | 7.9 | |||
Community care | 9 | 6.0 | |||
Special schools | 4 | 2.6 | |||
University | 3 | 2.0 | |||
Nature of job | Full-time physical therapist | 125 | 82.8 | ||
Part-time | 26 | 17.2 | |||
Number of hours of direct patient contact per week | 34.9 | 11.63 | |||
City | Makkah | 60 | 39.7 | ||
Taif | 44 | 29.1 | |||
Jeddah | 44 | 29.1 | |||
Rabigh | 2 | 1.3 | |||
Al-Qunfudhah | 1 | 0.7 | |||
Member of Saudi Physical Therapy Association | No | 97 | 64.2 | ||
Yes | 54 | 35.8 |
Items | N | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Before working as a physical therapist, what type of LBP did you suffer? | None | 93 | 61.6 |
Mild | 47 | 31.1 | |
Moderate | 10 | 6.6 | |
Severe | 1 | 0.7 | |
Before working as a physical therapist what type of functional limitations did you experience as a result of LBP? | None | 116 | 76.8 |
Mild | 24 | 15.9 | |
Moderate | 10 | 6.6 | |
Severe | 1 | 0.7 |
Items | N | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Did you have LBP during your work as a physical therapist? | No | 33 | 21.9 |
Yes | 118 | 78.1 | |
If yes (N = 118), during work as physical therapist what type of LBP have you experienced? | Mild | 63 | 53.4 |
Moderate | 47 | 39.8 | |
None | 3 | 2.5 | |
Severe | 5 | 4.2 | |
Onset of pain/injury | Acute (sudden) | 51 | 43.2 |
Chronic (gradual) | 67 | 56.8 | |
Average duration of pain in days during LBP episode | >4 weeks | 18 | 15.3 |
1 week | 75 | 63.6 | |
2–4 weeks | 25 | 21.2 | |
Work setting in which injury occurred | Hospital | 71 | 60.2 |
Private | 32 | 27.1 | |
Community care | 6 | 5.1 | |
University | 6 | 5.1 | |
Special school | 3 | 2.5 | |
Have you been affected by LBP from doing your regular activities? | No | 56 | 47.5 |
Yes | 62 | 52.5 | |
Are you currently (presently) experiencing LBP? | No | 45 | 38.1 |
Yes | 73 | 61.9 |
Items | Experienced LBP During Work as a Physical Therapist | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No | Yes | p-Value | ||||
N | % | N | % | |||
Gender | Female | 19 | 19.4 | 79 | 80.6 | 0.409 |
Male | 14 | 26.4 | 39 | 73.6 | ||
Age | 28.7 | 6.1 | 28.7 | 6.2 | 0.976 | |
Height (cm) | 160.0 | 29.8 | 163.3 | 9.4 | 0.524 | |
weight (Kg) | 66.6 | 16.9 | 67.7 | 17.0 | 0.733 | |
Nationality | Saudi | 30 | 22.4 | 104 | 77.6 | 1.000 |
Non-Saudi | 3 | 17.6 | 14 | 82.4 | ||
Medical disease before developing LBP | None | 32 | 24.1 | 101 | 75.9 | 0.562 |
Others | 0 | 0.0 | 8 | 100.0 | ||
Diabetes mellitus | 1 | 16.7 | 5 | 83.3 | ||
Hypertension | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 100.0 | ||
Cardiac diseases | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 100.0 | ||
Past medical treatment conditions | None | 32 | 23.5 | 104 | 76.5 | 0.912 |
Others | 0 | 0.0 | 5 | 100.0 | ||
Hypoglycemic (oral, insulin) | 1 | 20.0 | 4 | 80.0 | ||
Cardiac medications | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 100.0 | ||
Antihypertensive | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 100.0 | ||
Physical disability prior to developing LBP | None | 30 | 26.5 | 83 | 73.5 | 0.098 |
Musculoskeletal | 3 | 8.6 | 32 | 91.4 | ||
Neurological | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 100.0 | ||
Both | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 100.0 | ||
Area of specialty | General practice | 10 | 17.9 | 46 | 82.1 | 0.466 |
Orthopedics | 14 | 25.0 | 42 | 75.0 | ||
Pediatrics | 4 | 36.4 | 7 | 63.6 | ||
Neurology | 0 | 0.0 | 9 | 100.0 | ||
Home care | 2 | 33.3 | 4 | 66.7 | ||
Geriatrics | 1 | 20.0 | 4 | 80.0 | ||
Cardiology | 1 | 20.0 | 4 | 80.0 | ||
Others (e.g., sports, acute care) | 1 | 33.3 | 2 | 66.7 | ||
Years of experience as a physical therapist | 5.0 | 6.0 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 0.967 | |
Work setting | General hospital | 13 | 22.8 | 44 | 77.2 | 0.828 |
Private clinic | 10 | 26.3 | 28 | 73.7 | ||
Private hospital | 6 | 21.4 | 22 | 78.6 | ||
Rehabilitation hospital | 1 | 8.3 | 11 | 91.7 | ||
Community care | 1 | 11.1 | 8 | 88.9 | ||
Special schools | 1 | 25.0 | 3 | 75.0 | ||
University | 1 | 33.3 | 2 | 66.7 | ||
Nature of job | Full-time physical therapist | 27 | 21.6 | 98 | 78.4 | 1.000 |
Part-time | 6 | 23.1 | 20 | 76.9 | ||
Number of hours of direct patient contact per week | 32.6 | 11.1 | 35.5 | 11.8 | 0.193 | |
City | Makkah | 13 | 21.7 | 47 | 78.3 | 0.816 |
Taif | 12 | 27.3 | 32 | 72.7 | ||
Jeddah | 8 | 18.2 | 36 | 81.8 | ||
Rabigh | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 100.0 | ||
Al-Qunfudhah | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 100.0 | ||
Member of Saudi Physical Therapy Association | No | 23 | 23.7 | 74 | 76.3 | 0.541 |
Yes | ||||||
10 | 18.5 | 44 | 81.5 |
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Takrouni, H.A.; Mousa, G.; Yaseen, K.M.; Alshehri, M.A. Work-Related Low Back Pain Among Physical Therapists in the Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study. Healthcare 2025, 13, 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13030309
Takrouni HA, Mousa G, Yaseen KM, Alshehri MA. Work-Related Low Back Pain Among Physical Therapists in the Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study. Healthcare. 2025; 13(3):309. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13030309
Chicago/Turabian StyleTakrouni, Hebah Ameen, Gihan Mousa, Khalid Mohammed Yaseen, and Mansour Abdullah Alshehri. 2025. "Work-Related Low Back Pain Among Physical Therapists in the Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study" Healthcare 13, no. 3: 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13030309
APA StyleTakrouni, H. A., Mousa, G., Yaseen, K. M., & Alshehri, M. A. (2025). Work-Related Low Back Pain Among Physical Therapists in the Makkah Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study. Healthcare, 13(3), 309. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13030309