Musculoskeletal pain in mothers having disabled children: a descriptive study

Abstract

Background and aims: Distribution of musculoskeletal pain and pain intensity in mothers with disabled children have been studied in this current work. Methods: One hundred and eighty six mothers (mean age: 35.93±6.46 yr) were included randomly from private rehabilitation centers in Denizli, Turkey. The children had different disabilities (51.1 % cerebral palsy; 19.9 % mental retardation; 8.1 % autism; 7.5 % down syndrome; 5.9 % muscular dystrophy; 3.2 % epilepsy; 2.2 % spina bifida; 1.1 % brachial plexus injury; 0.5 % neuropathy; 0.5 % hydrocephaly). The mothers were primer caregivers their children. Pain distribution and pain intensity in the last 6 weeks were assessed by a body diagram and a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Results: Majority of the mothers (82.2 %) reported musculoskeletal pain. The mean pain intensity was 5.1± 2.6/10 cm. The distributions of pain were: 52.7 % lower back-leg pain; 23.1 % knee pain; 19.4 % shoulder-arm pain; 16.1 % neck pain; 16.1 % elbow pain; 10.2 % headache; 8.1 % upper back pain; 5.4 % hip pain; 5.4 % foot-ankle pain, and 4.3 % hand-wrist pain. Conclusions: Musculoskeletal pain, especially lower back pain is a common health problem among mothers with disabled children living in Denizli, Turkey.