LBP prevalence
The first aim of this study was to estimate the 12-month prevalence of LBP among school teachers in Botswana. This study found a 55.7% prevalence of LBP among teachers. Parallels can be drawn to other studies where 53.3% of Filipino[19], 53.8% of Ethiopian[20] teachers and 59.2% of Chinese primary and secondary school teachers[21] reported having LBP. The prevalence of LBP found in this study was relatively lower than those reported in studies conducted among female secondary school Saudi (63.8%)[22], Indian (66.2%)[23], Iranian (71.9%)[24] and Turkish teachers (74.9%)[25]. A relatively high prevalence of LBP, 84.0%, was found among Slovenian physical education teachers in a previous study[8]. The LBP prevalence rate in this study was, however, higher than that reported in another Turkish study (51.4%)[26] and other studies carried out among Chinese, Brazilian and Malaysian teachers with LBP prevalence rates of 45.6%, 41.1% and 40.4%, respectively[10, 11, 19]. Lower LBP prevalence levels have also been reported in studies that were conducted among teachers in Malaysia (40.4%)[27], China (40.0%)[28] and France (34.8)[29]. Lower levels of LBP prevalence were further reported among school teachers in Japan (20.6%)[1] and Estonia (11.8%)[9].
LBP risk factors
Another aim of this study was to determine risk factors associated with LBP among school teachers in Botswana. Chi-squared tests were initially used to determine basic associations between LBP and risk factors. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association of factors that were positively associated with LBP when using chi-squared tests. Logistic regression analysis revealed a number of interesting correlations between LBP and individual, lifestyle, physical and psychosocial factors. Odds ratios with statistically significant results were further corrected using the formula of Zhang and Kai[30].
Individual factors
In this study, female teachers reported a significantly higher prevalence of LBP (58.7% vs 47.7%) when compared to their male counterparts. Female teachers were one-and-a-half times more likely to experience LBP (OR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.14-2.00), which is consistent with some previous studies conducted in the teaching profession[20, 26] and elsewhere[31, 32]. Female teachers appear to consistently report more LBP than their male colleagues. Supporting this hypothesis are the results of a study of self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms among Turkish teachers which found that female teachers were 2.50 times more likely to report back pain when compared to their male counterparts[33]. In addition, Ethiopian female teachers were found to be more than three times likely to develop LBP in comparison to their male colleagues (OR: 3.23, 95% CI: 2.10-5.26)[20]. A similar link has been found between female gender and LBP among school teachers in Brazil (OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.22-2.07)[11]. Similar findings were also documented in a study conducted in Iran where more female teachers reported lower back pain (77.0% vs 69.0%) in comparison to their male colleagues[24]. In a Chinese study of school teachers, the percentage of female teachers was higher than that of their male counterparts in reporting LBP (52.6% vs 45.1%, p < 0.01)[21]. Conversely, a study of Filipino teachers did not show any gender differences between teachers with or without LBP[19]. Similar results were found in a study of university staff where gender was not significantly associated with LBP (p = 0.226)[34]. Furthermore, no significant association has been found between gender and LBP (OR: 1.15, 95%CI: 0.77-1.72) among physical education teachers in Slovenia[8].
One possible reason for gender differences in this study could be the nutritional status of female teachers, given that a higher proportion was found to be overweight when compared with their male counterparts. Even though BMI was not significantly associated with LBP in this study, females had a higher average BMI than males (27.6 ± 7.0 vs 24.8 ± 5.8, p < 0.001). Older age and long teaching experience might also be contributing factors, as females were significantly older than males (39.3 ± 9.0 vs 36.3 ± 7.0 years, p < 0.001) and had a significantly longer working experience than their male colleagues (13.4 ± 8.8 vs 10.1 ± 6.3 years, p < 0.001). Another reason could be that male teachers were involved in more regular physical exercise than females (18.1% vs 10.4%, p < 0.001).
The results of this study suggest that increasing age increases the odds of developing LBP. Teachers who were 41–50 years were 1.56 times more likely to report LBP when compared to those who were 30 years or younger. This result is consistent with a study conducted in Brazil in which teachers aged 40 years and above reported having more back pain than their younger colleagues[11]. Parallels could also be drawn to the results of a Turkish study where teachers over the age of 40 years reported having experienced musculoskeletal pain (p < 0.001)[26]. Increasing age has also been positively associated with LBP in another study of Turkish teachers (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02-1.08)[25]. Similarly, in a study carried out in Ethiopia, teachers who were 40 years and above were 2.34 times more likely to develop LBP while those in the age group of 30 to 40 years were 1.70 times more likely to develop LBP, compared to those who were less than 30 years[20]. In addition, increasing age was found to increase the odds of LBP (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.03-1.07)[8]. It has been suggested that the likely reason for higher prevalence of LBP among older teachers is that, as people age, there is a gradual decline in muscle mass and they lose connective tissue elasticity and undergo a thinning of the cartilage between joints. On the other hand, healing slows down with advancing age while the body is simultaneously dealing with lifetime accumulated soft tissue damage[11, 26, 35].
Logistic regression analysis revealed that prior injury was independently and significantly associated with LBP among Botswana teachers (OR 9.67, 95% CI 4.94-18.93). However, when this logistic odds ratio was corrected teachers who reported prior injury were found to be 1.92 times more likely to report LBP in comparison to those who did not report priory injury (95% CI: 1.74-2.02). This finding was similar to the results of a study conducted in Ethiopia where it was reported that teachers with a history of low back injury were 1.96 times more likely to develop LBP than those who had no history of low back injury (OR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.04-3.96)[20]. A similar link has been demonstrated between prior injury and upper extremities, back and lower extremities among male steelworkers in Korea[36] and between prior injury and subsequent injury[37]. Previous musculoskeletal clinical history has also been linked with the development of MSD among Italian health care workers[38].
On the other hand, results of this study suggest that regular physical exercise was negatively associated with LBP. Teachers who reported more than 5 hours of physical exercise a week were less likely to report LBP (OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43-0.93), compared to those who exercised less than 5 hours per week. Similar findings have been demonstrated in a study of school teachers in Ethiopia where teachers who have indicated doing regular physical activity were 0.52 times less likely to report low back pain, compared to those who did not engage in regular physical activity (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.34-0.82)[20]. A similar link has also been demonstrated between habitual physical activity as athletic and MSD among Thai university staff[34]. In a study of Estonian athletes, regular physical exercise 6–11 times per month has been associated with a lower prevalence of knee and hip problems, compared to those who exercised less than 6 times per month. On the other hand, a previous study from Australia found that undertaking no exercise was associated with almost five-fold risk of LBP[39].
Physical and psychosocial factors
Teachers who reported awkward arm positions at work reported the highest prevalence of LBP in the current study, when compared to those who did not adopt awkward arm positions, which is consistent with some previous research[38, 40, 41]. Teachers who had high psychological job demands were 1.40 more times likely to report LBP than those with low psychological job demands. Similarly, teachers who have reported having stress were 4.15 and 2.18 times more likely to experience LBP in the Philippines and Ethiopia, respectively, than those without stress[19, 20]. High psychological job demands have also been positively correlated to development of musculoskeletal disorders among Polish workers[42]. Additionally, poor mental health has been associated with LBP among Malaysian secondary school teachers (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.06-1.15)[27]. High job demands have also been correlated to LBP among female teachers at a school for the handicapped and among male teachers for classrooms for the handicapped in Japan[1]. On the other hand, a previous study conducted in China among teachers found no statistically significant association between high job demands and LBP[43]. Similar findings have been found for a study conducted in Italy[44].
A possible explanation for the association documented in the current study could be because teachers often work in stressful conditions with large classes, with a lack of educational resources and limited reward for their work[11]. Teachers have also been found to face a high amount of stress during teaching and handling young students and their stress level also increases when having to deal with students with emotional and behavioural problems[23]. It has also been suggested that the more psychological demands needed for a particular task, the greater the possibility to develop any kind of musculoskeletal disorder regardless of the anatomical area[45]. Some research from Japan suggests that this may relate to group dynamics, as well as individual factors[46]. Surprisingly, psychosocial factors such as low decision latitude, high job insecurity, low co-worker, low supervisor and low social support, and high job dissatisfaction were not positively associated with development of LBP in the current study.
LBP disability
Of those teachers who reported LBP, two-thirds (67.1%) reported experiencing minimal disability while 27.9% reported moderate disability, 4.3% severe disability, and 0.7% reported being crippled. The results of this study demonstrated that none of the respondents had been bed ridden or might have exaggerated their level of pain. This may imply that the majority of teachers probably experienced their LBP at a tolerable level. Conversely, in a study of high school teachers in the Philippines, the majority of teachers were found to experience pain at a barely tolerable level. Of those teachers that reported back pain, 14.5% reported minimal disability, 49.4% reported moderate disability, 25.0% reported severe disability, and 6.0% reported being crippled, while 5.0% reported being bed ridden. The results further indicated that 11% of the teachers may have exaggerated their pain level[19]. In Saudi Arabia, a study of female school teachers found that more than half (53.3%) of the teachers with LBP reported suffering from significant/disabling pain, while 25.9% and 20.8% reported non disabling pain and no pain, respectively[22]. In Slovenia, 19.0% of teachers reported experiencing LBP very often, 30.0% often and 34.0% rarely[8]. Moreover, in the US, 55.0% of preschool workers who reported back pain described it as very or extremely uncomfortable[47]. In a study of Turkish hospital staff, only 11.1% reported mild LBP whereas 63.0% reported moderate pain, 23.1% severe pain and 2.7% very severe pain[48]. Although majority of respondents with LBP in the current study reported minimal disability, strategic measures must be put in place to minimise the progression of their disability from minimal to significant disability. These measures should also be aimed at reducing the level of pain for those with moderate/severe disability to minimal disability.
Risk factors for LBP disability
The results of logistic regression analysis have shown that female gender generally increases the odds for LBP disability among Botswana teachers. Female teachers were 2.47 times more likely to experience moderate/severe disability or being crippled than their male colleagues (OR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.52-3.99, p < 0.001). The corrected logistic odds ratio showed that female teachers were 2.31 times more likely to report moderate/severe disability or being crippled than male teachers (95% CI: 1.53-3.49). Similar findings have also been found in a study of Turkish teachers where females reported more severe pain than their male counterparts in the upper back (p = 0.008) and lower back (p = 0.022)[26]. Contrary to these results are the findings of a Chinese study that did not find any significant difference in the LBP disability among teachers. That study rather found that female teachers experienced a higher pain intensity in the shoulder than male teachers (p < 0.001)[21].
A history of low back injury was strongly associated with low back disability in the chi-squared and multiple logistic regression analyses of data in the current study. Previous injury at the lower back region was positively associated with LBP disability among teachers who had reported experiencing LBP (OR: 3.01, 95% CI: 1.92-4.74, p < 0.001), with corrected logistic odds ratios 2.02 (95% CI: 1.57-4.47). Parallels can be drawn to the results of a study carried out among high school students from Starr County, Texas, where previous back injury was positively associated with severe back pain (OR: 9.04, 95% CI: 3.55-23.01)[49]. The literature suggests that, although research has been carried out to determine the prevalence and risk factors of LBP among school teachers, little research has been conducted to establish the level of disability caused by these disorders in the teaching profession.
Limitations
A number of limitations were identified in the current study. As a cross-sectional study, only associations can be established but no inferences of causality can be made. Further limitations of this study that need to be acknowledged are the possibility of recall bias and self-reporting of LBP. It is not clear if participants correctly remembered the presence of LBP in the last 12 months which could lead to over or under estimation. The presence of LBP depends solely upon the subjective self-report of the participants and not based upon an objective clinically verified diagnosis of a specialist. There could also be underestimation of the role of the risk factors assessed due to the large number of independent variables within the logistic regression analysis.