Posture and Musculoskeletal Pain in Dentists (Pain)

November 15, 2024 updated by: Alime Buyuk, Akdeniz University

Evaluation of the Relationship Between Posture and Musculoskeletal Pain in Dentists

Objectives: Musculoskeletal problems have been a concern in dentists for years. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between posture and musculoskeletal pain in dentists.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Working in an extremely challenging posture, performing movements that require force, and sitting or standing for a long time during dental practices are effective in the formation of musculoskeletal pain. Musculoskeletal pain; is caused by disorders affecting anatomical structures that provide structural support to our body, such as muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bones, and joints. Literature information shows that an average of 64% to 93% of dentists complain of musculoskeletal pain throughout their professional life.

Dentists often exhibit a negative posture characterized by neck flexion and shoulder abduction in order to provide a better field of view when treating their patients. Flattening of the cervical lordosis due to forward bending of the head and neck; Over time, it causes fatigue in the muscles in the neck and shoulder region, decrease in blood flow, pain, and ultimately protective muscle contractions. These irregularities in the muscles due to repetitive cumulative traumas can increase the force on the spinal discs of the neck and cause inevitable musculoskeletal diseases in the future. Similarly, a decrease in lumbar lordosis, right lateral flexion of the lumbar vertebrae, and leftward tilt of the thoracic vertebrae are characteristic positions during patient treatment in physicians who constantly sit and work, and studies have shown that there is a positive and significant correlation between this position and low back pain.

According to the definition of the Posture Committee of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, posture is the balanced and proper arrangement of skeletal elements in order to protect the body from deformations and prevent injury. Physiologically and biomechanically good posture is a posture that provides maximum efficiency in the body with minimum effort. It is important for a good posture that the four basic curvatures of the human spine, known as cervical and lumbar lordosis, thoracic and sacral kyphosis, are in harmony. Improper postural posture; accelerates the wear and tear in the vertebrae, discs, muscles, and ligaments, which causes pain. Therefore, the evaluation of posture is important in dentists.

Even in the best working position, dentists must have more than 50 muscles active in order to keep their body positions stable against gravity. Physicians generally lose their postural awareness during treatment shortly after starting treatment. During the treatment, they work in an inappropriate posture for a long time, neglecting their own health, mostly considering the treatment applications and the comfort of the patients. It is very important for physicians to be aware of the factors that cause musculoskeletal system problems and to learn to work in the right posture in order to maintain their health and practice their profession for a long time.

Posture evaluation of individuals is evaluated based on some reference points in the body. In this way, the relationship of body parts with each other and with gravity is compared with normal anatomical features, and deviations and differences are determined. The gold standard method in standard posture analysis is radiographic analysis. However, the use of radiography is undesirable due to the radiation it contains. The Spinal Mouse, which is an important tool in the measurement of posture correctness, is a device with mouse-shaped wheels that detects the angles and position of the spine and transfers them to the computer environment without the need for radiography and is a safe and non-invasive tool. It detects the curvature of the spine, its anatomical structure, and movements in the sagittal and frontal planes. It is an easy-to-use, fast and practical measuring device. Compared to radiography, it is important that it does not contain radiation and is non-invasive. The reliability and validity studies of the device have been carried out, and it provides quantitative data in order to obtain quick information about the posture. The raw data of the wireless and handheld mouse is transferred to the computer via Bluetooth and the data is evaluated in the computer environment. In this study, it is planned to obtain quantitative data about the postures of dentists by using the spinal mouse. In the literature review, only one study reported that there was a positive correlation between spinal mouse data and musculoskeletal pain in the evaluation of 1st, 3rd, and 5th-grade students using a spinal mouse. However, there is no study that evaluates the relationship between working hours, working positions, posture, and musculoskeletal pain in dentists working in different departments and compares them with the data of dentistry students who have just started their profession.

In light of all this information, the aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between posture and musculoskeletal pain in dentists.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

225

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

    • Konyaaltı
      • Antalya, Konyaaltı, Turkey, 07070
        • Akdeniz Universitesi

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

20 years to 55 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Dentistry 3-4-5th year students and dentists

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals who volunteered to participate in the study
  • Dentists who have completed at least 1 year in the profession for the study group and are actively working in their professional life
  • 4th and 5th year intern students
  • 3rd-year students who do not do clinical training (Control group)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Congenital musculoskeletal disorder
  • Having undergone musculoskeletal surgery
  • Having a rheumatic or neurological disease
  • Being pregnant

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

  • Observational Models: Other
  • Time Perspectives: Prospective

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Active working group
For the study group, dentists who have completed at least 1 year in the profession, actively working in their professional life, and 4th and 5th-year of intern dentistry students
Volunteers who will be included in the research will be informed about the research and an informed consent form will be signed. Questionnaire evaluating sociodemographic characteristics and working positions; The Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (7) and measurements made with the Spinal Mouse device for posture analysis will be applied when individuals feel comfortable. Questionnaires and device and posture analysis will be carried out after the purpose of the research is explained to the individuals and their consent is obtained. The data will be analyzed in the SSPS program. Number, percentage, standard deviation and mean from descriptive statistics will be used in the evaluation of the data. The relationship between posture and musculoskeletal pain will be evaluated by correlation analysis. The confidence interval of the research will be 95% and the significance level will be considered as p<0.05.
Control group
In the study, 3rd-grade dentistry students who have not yet started the clinical education process will be selected as the control group.
Volunteers who will be included in the research will be informed about the research and an informed consent form will be signed. Questionnaire evaluating sociodemographic characteristics and working positions; The Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (7) and measurements made with the Spinal Mouse device for posture analysis will be applied when individuals feel comfortable. Questionnaires and device and posture analysis will be carried out after the purpose of the research is explained to the individuals and their consent is obtained. The data will be analyzed in the SSPS program. Number, percentage, standard deviation and mean from descriptive statistics will be used in the evaluation of the data. The relationship between posture and musculoskeletal pain will be evaluated by correlation analysis. The confidence interval of the research will be 95% and the significance level will be considered as p<0.05.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sociodemographic data
Time Frame: 1-3 monts
Questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristic
1-3 monts
Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire,Spinal Mouse.
Time Frame: 1-3 months
Assessing working posistions,Evaluation of posture with the Spinal Mouse device
1-3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Goniometer assessment
Time Frame: 1-3 motnhs
Evaluation of neck joint movements with goniometer
1-3 motnhs

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Study Director: Özlem Daltaban, PhD, Akdeniz University Dentistry

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)

February 10, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 11, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

January 10, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 4, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 4, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

January 6, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

November 19, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 15, 2024

Last Verified

January 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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