Prevalence and Pattern of Musculoskeletal Pain in a Rural Community in Southwestern Nigeria

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and pattern of musculoskeletal pain and healthcare seeking behaviour of dwellers of Igbo-Ora, a rural Southwestern Nigerian community. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive survey design.Setting: Igbo-Ora, a rural Southwestern Nigerian community.Subjects: One thousand two hundred and sixty two (805 males and 457 females) adult dwellers.Main outcome measures: Patient reported outcomes in terms of pain experienced and healthcare seeking behavior.Results: Participants were aged 38.8±2.8 years. One thousand and nine participants (677 males and 332 females) reported experience of MSP during 12 months prior to study, giving a 12-month prevalence of 80.0%. The three most frequently reported sites of MSP were low back (47.0%), shoulder pain (19.9%) and knee (15.1%). Prevalence of MSP was high among occupational drivers (92.4%), farmers (89.4%) and artisans (84.6%). Gender (�« 2 =11.676; p<0.001), age (�« 2 = 14.111; P<0.02) 2 =94.714; p<0.001) were significantly associated with prevalence of MSP. Majority of participants (63.9%) believed MSP is work-related. Only 7.2% of participants sought hospital treatment while the majority (81.9%) used selfprescribed drugs for pain alleviation.Conclusion: MSP is highly prevalent in this rural Southwestern Nigeria community, with eight out of every ten adult residents experiencing MSP in 12 months. The most frequent healthcare-seeking behaviour among these rural dwellers was self-prescribed drugs. There is dire need for health education on MSP for these rural dwellers.