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Theses and dissertations (Health Sciences)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/12

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Start date: 2020Subject: search.filters.subject.Musculoskeletal injury

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    An epidemiological investigation into musculoskeletal pain in KwaZulu-Natal orchestral musicians
    (2024) Muhondo, Linley; Thandar, Yasmeen; Kell, Colette
    Background Non-communicable diseases pose a significant health threat worldwide. Of those diseases, musculoskeletal diseases are most responsible for a significant portion of occupational injuries in all job-sectors, including the musical sector. Musicians are prone to suffering from musculoskeletal injuries, more so than other populations. These injuries are termed playing-related musculoskeletal diseases (PRMDs). There are several risk factors associated with acquiring PRMDs including being of the female gender, age, and the type of instrument played. While most literature on musicians’ has been documented in countries abroad, there is a paucity of literature looking at the risk factors and attributes of African, and specifically South African, musicians. This is notable, as African musicians may have different characteristics to their international counterparts. The aim of this research was to examine orchestral musicians in Kwa Zulu-Natal from all sections of the orchestra to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries and the potential risk factors for these injuries, as well as their musculoskeletal injury profile. Methodology This study was a quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive study based on a self administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was piloted electronically and the necessary alterations were made. The final questionnaire was administered to members of 2 orchestras in Kwa Zulu-Natal, namely the Pietermaritzburg City Orchestra (25 members) and the Durban City Orchestra (30 members), making the targeted sample 55 musicians in total. All musicians who met the inclusion criteria were invited to participate in the study. The anonymously completed questionnaires were placed into marked boxes after completion to ensure musician anonymity. The data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 28. Association between specific risk factors and 12-month prevalence of MSK was assessed using Fisher’s exact 2-sided tests for categorical risk factors, and t-tests for continuous risk factors. A p-value of <0.05 was taken as statistical significance. Results Of the 55 musicians targeted, 30 of them participated, resulting in a response rate of 54.5%. Majority of the respondents were female (n=20). The data showed that the annual prevalence of PRMDs in the two orchestras was 46.7%. The point and one month prevalence were both 40%. The most injured section of the orchestra were the strings, followed by the woodwind section. The string section also reported the highest number of average affected areas in the orchestra (n=4). The most frequently injured anatomical sites of the body were the shoulders and wrists. There was no statistical significance found between the risk factors and injuries acquired. However, the results showed that females were injured more than the males (55%). Most of the respondents that reported musculoskeletal injury fell within the 18-24 age range and majority of the injured musicians fell in the overweight BMI body category. Most of the music teachers and the single career musicians in the study reported suffering from PRMDs and playing instruments for more than 16 hours a week on average. Conclusion The prevalence of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders among musicians was relatively high among the orchestral musicians in Kwa Zulu-Natal. Though not statistically significant, factors such as instrument played, age, and female gender were the factors that had the greatest influence on injury rates. The pain experienced was mild in nature and felt worse after playing their instruments. While the pain did not affect their activities of daily living, it did cause a few to change their way of playing or stop playing entirely for a period of time due to their pain. Majority of the players were aware of musician’s playing related health problems, and acknowledged that they are a problem, but none of them had received formal methods of education regarding them. The COVID-19 pandemic was a phenomenon that also affected the musicians in various ways.
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    The injury profile of musculoskeletal injuries, and the impact thereof, in amateur pole sports athletes in eThekwini municipality
    (2024) Worth, Kim; Pillay, Julian David
    Background: Pole sport has gained popularity worldwide, especially in South Africa. Due to the nature of the sport, there is growing evidence of unique musculoskeletal injuries that accompany the sport. Despite this, there is little information regarding the specific musculoskeletal injuries that occur in pole sport athletes and, thus, the sport has been compared to gymnastics and circus arts which include certain similarities. Research in pole sports specifically is essential in order to assist healthcare professionals to manage the injuries specific to the sport appropriately. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, selected risk factors and types of injuries that amateur pole sport athletes experience, as well as the impact of the musculoskeletal injuries and the level of care used. Methodology: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional method was utilised with the distribution of online questionnaires to five pole studios in the eThekwini municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The questionnaire consisted of the following sections: demographics; training history; risk factors; musculoskeletal injuries; consequence of injury on sport and performance, quality of life and the management approaches and impact thereof. The data was analysed using the IBM SPSS version 28. Results: A total of 59 female participants over the age of 18 years old were included in this study. A high prevalence of musculoskeletal injury was found, with a lifetime prevalence of 49.2% (n=29), and period prevalence over 12 months of 40.7% (n=24). The majority of injuries were found to affect the upper limb but injuries to the spine and lower limb were still common. The most commonly reported location of injuries was the shoulder (64.3%, n=18), followed by the hand and wrist (46.4%, n=13), and then the neck (35.7%, n=10) and thoracic back (35.6%, n=10). The most common type of injury was a strain type injury (48.1%, n=14), followed by contusions (11.1%, n=3). Significant risk factors included high skill level (p value of 0.005), increased strength (p value of 0.010), performing warm-ups for longer than 10 minutes (p value of 0.053) and performing static stretching cool-downs (p value of 0.005). The impact of pole sport injuries on the participants’ pole performance demonstrated that despite the athletes’ recovery from injury taking more than six weeks, the majority of the athletes either stopped pole sport and other activities for one week or less or did not stop the activities at all. The impact of pole sports injuries on the participants’ quality of life was significant, especially affecting their ability to perform daily activities, decreasing their ability to sleep and decreasing their mood as a result of injury. Various management approaches, including self-medication, home remedies and complementary healthcare were utilised by participants. Self-medication and home remedies were found to be utilised more commonly compared to seeking help from healthcare professionals. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that musculoskeletal injuries are largely present in pole sport athletes for which various management approaches were utilised. The injuries impacted multiple aspects of the participants’ lives. The uniqueness of this sport provides an interesting platform for new research, especially with regard to musculoskeletal injuries, as shown in this study.
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    Determining the normative value of the Functional Movement Screen™ in weightlifters in participating gyms within the eThekwini municipality, and its association to injury
    (2021-12-01) Singh, Shaista; Sobuwa, Simpiwe; Bruijns, Stevan
    Background: Weightlifting is an increasing popular form of fitness. Weightlifters train exceptionally hard in their daily training regimes, as well as for competitions. Despite the popularity of this high intensive and explosive training, there is no normative value determined for weightlifters in the eThekwini Municipality, South Africa, to compare themselves against and track their progress or regression or to use as a benchmark when beginners adopt a new training programme. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS™) is a pre-participation assessment which analyses the movements of its participants according to seven exercises, which form the basics of fundamental movement patterns. This assessment allows an analysis of dysfunctional movement patterns to be identified. Aims: The aim of this study has been to assess weightlifters according to the Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS™), to determine a normative value and examine their FMS™ score in relation to prior injury or musculoskeletal dysfunction. Methods: The methodology of this study included assessing 89 weightlifters from participating gym on the FMS™ in order to achieve a normative score of weightlifters within the eThekwini Municipality. Thereafter, participants were contacted telephonically and asked to provide information about their age, height, weight, number of years training, and an injury profile, including how long ago any injury occurred, how long the injury took to heal, the severity of the injury according to the pain rating numerical scale and what form of treatment they received for their injury. The mean FMS™ was then determined for the weightlifters within the eThekwini Municipality and an analysis was made between FMS™ score and injury sustained to determine whether the FMS™ is able to predict injury in this population. Results: The sample population of 89 revealed that the mean FMS™ score for weightlifters in participating gyms within the eThekwini Municipality is 13.88 out of 21. There is no correlation made between FMS™ score and injury and therefore there is no association to injury and FMS™ score in this sample population. There are significant findings in the scoring of the FMS™ exercises showing that weightlifters adapt their own lifting technique in order to lift their desired weight at the velocity expected. The most common recorded injuries are to the shoulder, followed by the knee. The most common injury sustained is musculature in nature and the most common treatment received for injury was physiotherapy. Conclusion: The normative value for weightlifters in participating gyms within the eThekwini Municipality is 13.88 out of 21 for the FMS™. It has been established that weightlifters deviate from the ideal movement pattern to develop stability and strength to lift their desired weights at explosive outputs. There was no link found between FMS™ score and injury and no correlation made between age, height, weight and number of years training and the FMS™ score.
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    A musculoskeletal injury profile of weight trainers at gyms within the eThekwini municipality
    (2021-12-01) Dhlamini, Wabo; Maharaj, P.; Pastellides, A.
    Background Weight training is an ancient practice that has been growing and evolving over time. It has gained more popularity in modern times due to its benefits for the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems. Although weight training has been associated with numerous benefits, there are also documented risks of injury associated with it. There are several gyms within the eThekwini municipality where people perform weight training exercises and possibly sustain injuries related to weight training. However, there is a paucity of literature relating to this group of individuals, some of whom are not professional athletes and could possibly be at higher risk of sustaining injuries. The aim of this research was to ascertain the musculoskeletal injury profile of weight trainers at gyms within the eThekwini municipality. Methodology This research was a quantitative cross-sectional survey; a questionnaire was used as the research tool. The questionnaire was administered to 322 participants who met the inclusion criteria. Individuals who read the letter of information and signed the consent form were allowed to participate in the research. Once completed, the consent forms and questionnaires were placed in different boxes by the researcher in order to maintain confidentiality. The results of the research were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 25) to determine statistical significance, wherein a p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The logistics regression model was used to analyse the relationship between one dependent binary variable and independent nominal variables. Results and discussion There was a 100% response rate and of the 322 participants in the research, only 31.4% had sustained at least one injury related to weight training. The majority of the participants were males (90.4%). Furthermore, there was a higher number of injuries sustained when using free weights (88.1%) as compared to weight training machines (11.8%). Most injuries were sustained while performing the barbell shoulder press (18.8%). The shoulder was the anatomical location with the highest injury frequency (31.7%). Muscle strains (40.5%) were the most common types of injuries. Risk factors that were found to have a significant effect on injury were individuals within the age group 32-38 years who sustained 48.9% of the reported injuries. Individuals who had sustained injuries in the past (p=0.017) were also at higher risk of sustaining other injuries. The number of hours spent weight training (p=0.017) were also found to increase the risk of sustaining injuries. Conclusion The findings of this study show that there are certain anatomical locations that are more prone to injury than others. Weight training, just like any other type of exercise, can predispose one to injury, but the rate of injury due to weight training is generally low. The most prevalent types of injuries were muscle strains and joint sprains, with a few rare exceptions of serious injuries such as muscle tears and bone fractures.