The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among college students during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) movement control order

During the COVID-19 Movement Control Order (MCO), all physical (face-to-face) teaching and learning activities have been changed to an online approach (distance learning). This sudden change has affected the health of students, especially eye problems and MSDs. This study aims to find the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among college students during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Movement Control Order. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 128 students who experienced online distance learning (ODL) using self-administered questionnaire at google form. Ergonomic risk factors in this study recorded the time spent on electronic devices more than 6 hours (96.1%), the purpose of using the electronic device on educational activities (97.7%), the time spent in a sitting position more than 8 hours per day (70.5%), type of environment typically in bedroom (52.7%), workstation setup with chairs and table (79.8%), sitting position when using the electronic devices (72.9%), low physical activity (76.0%), and 4-7 times number of walking days per week for at least 10 minutes (64.3%). The most prevalent of MSDs was lower back (62.0%) and followed by neck and shoulder area (54.3%), wrist and upper back (38.0%) and knees (22.5%). There were also significant association between purposes for using an electronic device (for educational purpose) with knees pain (X² =15.284, p=<0.001), and wrists or hand pain (X² =9.306, p=0.010) as well as workstation setup with neck pain (X² =10.742, p=0.030). Findings from this study have addressed the need for appropriate preventive measures such as having the right equipment such as chair that provides lumbar support, apply the correct way to position the keyboard and computer screen which is parallel to the eye level as well as taking a frequent micro breaks from their sitting to minimize the negative effects of ODL on students’ health and seek medical treatments following the musculoskeletal disorders experienced by students.