Objective

This study was designed to identify the major musculoskeletal symptoms of individuals with obesity, to assess their health-related quality of life, and to evaluate the correlation between the musculoskeletal symptoms and the individuals’ health-related quality of life.

Materials and methods

Cross-sectional study.

Instruments used

“Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire” and “The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36)”.

Results

In total, 41 subjects were evaluated, of which 90.15% were female. The mean age of the subjects was 40.78 ± 9.85 years and their mean body-mass index was 46.87 ± 8.08. All subjects reported musculoskeletal pain in at least one anatomical region and 80.49% had pain in three or more regions. The activity limitations due to pain were reported by 75.61% of them. The most affected regions by pain were the ankles and/or feet, lower back, knees and wrists/hands/fingers. The most associated regions with activity limitations due to pain were the ankles and/or feet, knees and lower back. The presence of pain showed a negative correlation with the domains physical functioning (PF), role-physical (RP) and body pain (BP). The activity limitations showed a negative correlation with the domains PF, BP, social functioning (SF) and role-emotional (RE).

Conclusion

Our data showed a high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and limitation in activities due to pain in obese subjects. The musculoskeletal symptoms had negative correlations with physical and mental components of the health-related quality of life, highlighting the importance of ensuring that patients with obesity have access to interdisciplinary care, for the prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders.

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