Perception of Static Load as an Ergonomic Factor Associated with Musculoskeletal Disorders among Health and Physical Education Teachers in Secondary Schools in Enugu State

Abstract

This study focused on the perception of the static load as an ergonomic factor associated with musculoskeletal disorders among health and physical education teachers in secondary schools in Enugu State. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study used a survey research design. The population of the study was 323 (male 127, female 196) Health and Physical Education teachers in Government secondary schools in Enugu State, and the entire population was used in the study. Static Load Ergonomic Factors Questionnaire (SLEFQ) (r-0.64), a self-developed structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Statistical mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while a t-test was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The study found that health and physical education teachers in Enugu State positively perceived static load as an ergonomic factor associated with musculoskeletal disorders (3.18±0.76), urban teachers (3.36 ±0.37) positively perceived static load as an ergonomic factor associated with musculoskeletal disorders higher than the rural (3.04 ±0.43), both male (3.23 ±0.48 ) and female (3.14 ±0.38 ) positively perceived static load as an ergonomic factor associated with musculoskeletal disorder. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the perception of static load as an ergonomic factor associated with musculoskeletal disorder based on location (t-value of 7.144, p=0.000) but not on gender (t-value of 1.912, p=0.057). The study recommended among others that appropriate intervention strategies like ergonomically designed workplaces, proper equipment and training sessions on the ergonomic guidelines should be provided by school management both in the rural and urban schools to teachers.