Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 5:33:102012.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcot.2022.102012. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Prevalence and risk factors of neck pain in spine surgeons - Are we our own patients?

Hriday Acharya  1 , Priyank Patel  1 , Gautam M Shetty  2 , Munjal Shah  1 , Harshal Bamb  1 , Abhay Nene  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and risk factors of neck pain in spine surgeons - Are we our own patients?

Hriday Acharya et al. J Clin Orthop Trauma. .

Abstract

Aim: This survey of spine surgeons aimed to determine the prevalence of neck pain and identify the associated risk factors. The prevalence of neck pain has been reported in various medical sub-specialities including laparoscopy surgeons, dentists, plastic surgeons, ophthalmologist, urologist and orthopaedic surgeons. However, the literature is lacking on prevalence and risk factors for neck pain in spine surgeons.

Methods: A survey questionnaire containing demographic, Neck pain and work practice details was administered to 300 spine surgeons (members of an online group) via text message and e-mail.

Results: One hundred and eighty surgeons responded to the survey (response rate, 60%). Three spine surgeons had previous cervical spine surgeries. The 1-month prevalence rate of neck pain was 74.4% (134/180 surgeons). One hundred and eighteen surgeons (88%) reported only neck pain, 16 surgeons (11.9%) had neck pain with radicular arm pain. Only 20.5% of surgeons used a loupe, 18% of surgeons used a microscope, and 24% of surgeons used operating table height at umbilicus during surgery. There was no significant difference between the mean age (p = 0.65), work experience (p = 0.8), time spent in surgery (p = 0.7), and operating table height preference (p = 0.4) when symptomatic and asymptomatic groups were compared. However, a significantly greater percentage of surgeons had a sedentary lifestyle (p = 0.002) & used loupes as compared to microscopes (p = 0.04) in the symptomatic group. There was significant correlation between the surgeon's lifestyle & use of loupe and the incidence of neck pain.

Conclusion: Spine surgeons have a higher prevalence of neck pain than general populations and surgeons from other specialties. Considering the high prevalence of neck pain, general health, work, and ergonomic guidelines and recommendations must be formulated to help prevent and decrease the burden of neck pain among spine surgeons.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevelance of neck pain in General population and other medical sub specialities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Fejer R., Kyvik K.O., Hartvigsen J. The prevalence of neck pain in the world population: a systematic critical review of the literature. Eur Spine J. 2006;15:834–848. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Safiri S., Kolahi A.A., Hoy D., et al. Global, regional, and national burden of neck pain in the general population, 1990-2017: systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. BMJ. 2020;368:m791. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m791. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hoy D., March L., Woolf A., et al. The global burden of neck pain: estimates from the global burden of disease 2010 study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2014;73:1309–1315. - PubMed
    1. Hurwitz E.L., Randhawa K., Yu H., Côté P., Haldeman S. The Global Spine Care Initiative: a summary of the global burden of low back and neck pain studies. Eur Spine J. 2018;27(Suppl 6):796–801. - PubMed
    1. Epstein S., Sparer E.H., Tran B.N., et al. Prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among surgeons and interventionalists: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Surg. 2018;153 - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources