Occupation-related low back pain and functional activities of mineworkers from Solwezi District, Zambia

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Date

2017

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University of the Western Cape

Abstract

Low back pain (LBP) injury rates have been increasing over the years in the mining industry due to the physical nature of the work. It has been ranked among the most common occupational health problems worldwide, and regarded as a major contributor to high absenteeism rates at work, low productivity and high disability in the mining industry. The aim of the study is to determine the role of occupation-related LBP on the functional activities of mineworkers from the Solwezi District, Zambia. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. A cross-sectional, descriptive design, using a survey, was employed to address the first three objectives while an exploratory design using focus group discussions was employed to address the last objective of the study. Simple random sampling was adopted in the survey and a total of 222 respondents who were workers at Kansanshi Mine in Solwezi District, Zambia participated in the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in the study and data from the survey was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. The study indicated that 68% of the respondents suffered LBP in the past one year, one month prevalence was reported by 40.4% of the respondents, and a one-week prevalence by 33.1% of the respondents.

Description

Masters of Science - Msc (Physiotherapy)

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