Musculoskeletal Problems in School Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic

July 6, 2021 updated by: Gaziosmanpasa Research and Education Hospital

Musculoskeletal Problems and Associated Factors in Children Aged Between 6-13 Years During the COVID-19 Pandemic

During COVID-19 pandemic, in the lockdown period, reduced physical activity and obesity were reported in children.

In Turkey, face to face education was ceased after March 16, till the end of the previous academic year and education was tried to be substituted remotely.

A temporary lockdown was implemented for children and young people under the age of 20, between April 3 and June 5 2020. At 45 days following the lockdown of children, 72% of the parents with children aged 6-13 years stated that their screen time had increased to a mean of 6.4 hours per day.

Engaging more time in physical activity, and less in sedentary and leisure screen time was found to be associated with less anxiety during pandemic.

Before 2020-2021 academic year, government and educators increased their preparedness for the second and third waves and improved the technological infrastructure. Depending on grades, preferences of the family, primary education continued remotely between November 2020 and July 2021.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether musculoskeletal complaints are increased in school-age children during the pandemics and whether there is a relationship between the decreased level of physical activity, increased screen time, poor posture and musculoskeletal complaints.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

A survey assessing musculoskeletal pain in children in the last 1 month, and associated factors including presence of non-ergonomic postures during online education was structured by two physiatrists and a public health specialist after the review of the relevant literature. Several paediatric pain and musculoskeletal assessment tools were reviewed.

The survey consisted of a total of 66 questions including sociodemographic characteristics of the children and family (17 items), education hours, used technological device (7 items), screen time and physical activity (5 items), presence of musculoskeletal pain (27 items) and ergonomics (10 items).

Questions regarding the musculoskeletal pain were constructed based on The Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire extended version (NMQ-E) which was translated and validated into Turkish. Pain or discomfort questions experienced in the nine body parts with binary choices (yes or no) were used. The figure in NMQ-E was used to describe body regions (the neck, shoulder, upper back, elbow, wrist/hand, low back, hip/ thigh, knee, ankle/foot) and pain questions were structured accordingly on this body diagram.

The questionnaire was created using the Qualtrics program. The survey was piloted among ten participants to ensure its readability and ease of completion. After obtaining permissions from Ministry of National Education of Turkey, survey link was shared with the school principles so that they distributed the survey to the guardians of children via smart phones or email. The survey will be available during two months and a reminder will be sent once a week.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Anticipated)

1225

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey
    • Gaziosmanpasa
      • Istanbul, Gaziosmanpasa, Turkey, 34255
        • Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

6 years to 13 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

A sample size of 1225 participants was calculated by assuming a musculoskeletal pain prevalence of 15% among children between the ages 6-13, with a confidence limit of 95% with a margin of error 2%.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being parent or guardian of a child between the ages of 6-13 years
  • Having access to the Internet
  • Being literate
  • Giving consent to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children going to special education school

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Presence of musculoskeletal pain
Time Frame: One day
Presence of musculoskeletal pain in one of the nine body parts
One day

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Gaziosmanpasa Research and Education Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Özden Özyemişçi Taşkıran, Prof, Koc University School of Medicine Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  • Study Director: Sibel Sakarya, Prof, Koc University School of Medicine Department of Infectious Disease
  • Study Chair: Zeynep Turan, Koc University School of Medicine Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  • Study Chair: Esra Giray, Assoc Prof, Koc University School of Medicine Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

July 9, 2021

Study Completion (Anticipated)

September 30, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 6, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 6, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

July 8, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 8, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 6, 2021

Last Verified

July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020/205

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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