Zeeshan Asghar, Muhammad Jawad Tahir, Ayesha Zulfiqar, Mariam Tariq, Muhammad Basit, Muhammad Waqas.
Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Pain among Weight-lifters; a Cross-sectional Survey.
Healer J Physiotherap Rehab Jan ;3(4):488-96.

Background: Weight lifting is considered one of the most widely used sports for strength training focusing on lifting maximum weight in a single repetition. It is not exclusive to weight lifters only, rather all athletes perform this as a substantial physical exercise to gain power, strength and muscle mass. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among weight-lifters in Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: This cross-sectional study was completed within six months after taking data from weight-lifters from various gyms, health clubs and universities in Lahore, Pakistan using a convenient sampling technique. About 240 weight-lifters aged between 18 to 45 years, both gender and those who worked out at least three times per day were included while those were excluded from this study who had a previous history of comorbid conditions such as liver, cardiac and neurological diseases. For collecting data, the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire was used. Descriptive statistics were presented in the form of percentage, frequency and mean. Fisher`s exact test was used to calculate the difference in the prevalence of pain in different regions of the body of the weight lifters. An odd ratio was used to determine the risk involved for each joint of the body. Logistic regression was employed to calculate the confidence interval. Results: The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in shoulders was 88.75%, elbow 84.58%, neck 84.16%, wrists/hands 84.16%, upper back and lower back 92.08%, hips 93%, knees 92.9% and ankles/foot 22.08% in weight-lifters of Lahore. Conclusion: This study concludes that there is a high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among weight lifters in shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands, upper and lower back, neck, knee and hip joints.

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