Work-related repetitive strain injuries amongst practitioners of obstetric and gynaecological ultrasound worldwide

The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders amongst practitioners of obstetric and gynaecology ultrasound worldwide, and to establish relevant aetiological factors.

A questionnaire survey was conducted amongst the participants at the 2010 ISUOG world congress held in Prague, Czech Republic. All pain complaints were evaluated in relation to the gender, operator experience, average workload and the background prevalence of obesity in the patient population scanned. Joint (neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist) or back pain was considered as repetitive strain injury (RSI).

The response rate obtained was 49 %, with 407 questionnaires returned out of a total of 830. Female operators reported more RSI than their male counterparts (70.1 vs. 59.6 %, p = 0.03). We found no significant relationship between the grade of the operator, the number of years of scanning experience, orientation in ergonomics and the occurrence of symptoms. Rest breaks in between cases revealed positive benefit (61.4 % RSI with rest vs. 71 % without rest, p = 0.041). The incidence of the reported RSI in the practitioners who had less than 30 % of their population classified as obese (body mass index of 30 or more) when compared with those who had more than 30 % of their case load classified as obese, was similar (65.3 vs. 64 %, p = 0.83).

Operator-dependant factors except gender, had little correlation with symptoms suffered, whilst the number of days worked per week, not taking regular breaks each day, revealed positive correlation. The results suggest that symptoms are both operator and workplace dependent. Though 65.6 % respondents suffered from RSI, less than half (30.5 %) resorted to supportive measures like physiotherapy.