Analyzing complaints of arm, neck, and shoulder pain among academicians in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study on prevalence and contributing factors

OBJECTIVES: Complaints of arm, neck, and shoulder (CANS) have been recognized as an important cause of work disability. Therefore, it is essential to identify those health risk factors for the development of CANS before they escalate into a disabling musculoskeletal condition. This study aims to ascertain the association between individual, physical, and psychosocial risk factors and the occurrence of CANS among academics in Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was adopted, enrolling 296 academic staff working at a private university in Malaysia using a convenient sampling approach. A content-validated questionnaire was distributed among selected academic staff to gather their feedback on the prevalence and contributing factors of CANS, and the survey was conducted for a period of six months. The chi-square test was used to analyze the association between risk factors and CANS, and multiple logistic regression was used to predict the risk factors of CANS. This study links all the health risk factors to CANS in Malaysian academicians. RESULTS: Of the academic staff who participated in this study, 63.5% reported an annual prevalence of CANS. Physical risk factors, including work experience, adopting a static head-down posture, time spent per day in teaching, and the number of hours spent in front of a computer, are associated with CANS (p<0.05). However, the utility of back support (p=0.878) and footrests (p=0.078) does not show any association with the occurrence of CANS (p>0.05). Besides job demand, other psychosocial factors do not show any significant association with CANS. DISCUSSION: The study found that 63.5% of academic staff suffer from arm, shoulder, and neck pain, which is linked to physical risk factors such as work experience, static posture, teaching time and computer use. Back support and footrests had no significant influence on the complaints. Addressing physical risk factors is key to reducing these conditions among academic staff.