Nurses' Knowledge and Practice of Appropriate Techniques of Body Mechanics and Non-specific Back Pain

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2024-03, Vol.16 (3), p.e56478-e56478
• Main Authors: Douhal, Haya, Jarrah, Samiha, Masa'deh, Rami, Shudifat, Raed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Back pain; Hospitals; Intensive care; Knowledge; Likert scale; Mechanics; Nurses; Nursing; Orthopedics; Other; Patients; Private schools; Questionnaires; Spinal cord injuries; Variance analysis; Well being
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.56478

Background Nursing is a compassionate profession that carries occupational hazards, including work-related injuries. Back pain is a common concern due to the physically demanding tasks performed by nurses. Utilizing proper techniques of body mechanics is vital to prevent work-related back pain and enhance overall well-being. Aim To assess the knowledge and practice of the nurses working in Jordanian hospitals about the appropriate techniques of body mechanics and their relation to non-specific back pain. Methods A cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of 280 participants was randomly selected from hospitals. The tool included the use of a paper questionnaire or scanning the barcode at nursing stations; a reliable, adopted tool was used in this study. Results Out of 280 participants, six (2.1%) had poor knowledge, 96 (34.3%) had average knowledge, and 178 (63.6%) had good knowledge, with a mean score of 3.72±0.58. For practice, seven (2.5%) had poor, 225 (80.4%) had average, and 48 (17.1%) had good practice, with a mean score of 3.30±0.49. Both knowledge and practice scores were negatively correlated with non-specific back pain (rpb = -.393 and rpb = -.306, p < .001), respectively. Furthermore, sociodemographic characteristics did not significantly affect body mechanics knowledge and practice scores (p > 0.05) for all variables. Conclusion Nurses working in Jordanian hospitals had good knowledge of body mechanics but average practice. Higher knowledge and practice levels were correlated with less experience of non-specific back pain. Additionally, there was no significant difference in sociodemographic data between nurses with knowledge and practice scores.