Objective: To identify the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms in elementary school teachers. Method: A questionnaire containing an inventory for general and occupational data and the Nordic questionnaire were utilized. In the statistical analysis, subjects with and without symptoms over the last 12 months were compared for statistical analysis, independent of the symptom region and degree of severity. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed using a significance level of 5%. The stepwise criterion was utilized for the multivariate analysis. The variables were analyzed using the chi-squared test of association or Fisher's test. Results: The participants' average age was 40 years; 99.4% were women and 90.4% of them presented musculoskeletal symptoms. The regions most affected were: lower back, chest, neck, shoulders, wrists and hands. The presence of pain was significantly associated with absence of children (p = 0.03) and duration of professional activities shorter than or equal to 15 years (p = 0.03). In the multivariate analysis, the presence of pain in the neck region (odds ratio (OR): 6.2; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.426.7), shoulders (OR: 2.8; 95% CI: 1.17.2), chest (OR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.15.5) and wrists and hands (OR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.03.9) presented significant associations with age less than 30 years, age 3039 years, absence of children and absence of a stable relationship, respectively. Conclusion: Teachers presented high occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms and this confirms the need for further studies.
musculoskeletal symptoms; teachers; ergonomics; physical therapy
