Background: Low Back pain (LBP) is one of the most thought-provoking health conditions among the health professionals, especially nurses and it is considered as a significant health problem around the world. The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of exercise programs to reduce LBP among nurses working at Mugda Medical College Hospital in Dhaka.
Methods: A Quasi Experimental one group pre-posttest study design with 5 weeks’ exercise program and one week follow up session was used. A total of 60 nurses were conveniently recruited from Mugda Medical College Hospital. Data collection period was from January to March 2020. Nurses’ characteristics were described by using Socio-Demographic Questionnaire (SDQ) and their LBP status was examined by Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and 11 points of Verbal Rating Scale for pain (VRSP) assessment. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation was used to describe the demographic characteristics and LBP of nurses. Inferential statistics such as matched paired t-test and independent sample t-test were used to examine the relationship between the variables.
Results: Finding shows that the mean pre-test LBP score of nurses was 5.40 (SD = 0.74) and post-test LBP score was 1.51 (SD = 1.27). The mean differences were 3.89 (SD = 0.53) which indicates significant difference between pre and post-test score. In matched paired t-test, it was found that there was a significant mean difference between pre and post-test of LBP (p< 0.001).
Conclusion: There was a significant mean difference after exercise program among the nurses with LBP. It indicates that exercise program was effective to reduce LBP. This finding can be recommended to develop educational modules for nurses to provide appropriate care to the patients.
