Abstract

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is likely common among healthcare workers, owing to their heavy physical workload, prolonged sitting or standing, and weight lifting. LBP is associated with poor work performance, absenteeism, and low quality of patient services. Also, most studies investigating LBP among nurses while have a low focus on physicians.
Aim: To investigate LBP’s prevalence and related risk factors among physicians with various specialties.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was performed at Al-Hada Armed Forces hospital in Taif city, Saudi Arabia. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection, which was distributed to all physicians working in the hospital.
Results: One hundred and twenty-one physicians aged between 23 and 60 (34.8 ± 8.3) years participated in the study. 94 (77.7%) of the physicians suffered from LBP, whereas 90 (74.4%) had LBP in the last 12 months. The study found a significant (p = 0.037) association between body mass index (BMI), working more than 8 hours per day (p = 0.025), smoking (p = 0.031), and the prevalence of LBP.
Conclusion: The study revealed that over two-thirds of physicians suffer from low back pain in Al-Hada Armed Forces Hospital in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the identified risk factors were overweight/obesity, smoking, working for more than 8 hours, and some specialties like internal medicine.

Key words: Low back pain, physicians, prevalence, Saudi Arabia, cross-sectional.