Abstract:
Background: Disc herniation is regarded as a major disability in human skeletal system.
Although the exact mechanism is not understood, age, sex, heavy occupation, mechanical
loading, smoking, vibrations, trauma and strenuous sporting activities are few common causes
attributing to disc herniation and those can be widely classified into socio-demographic,
behavioural and occupational risk factors.
Objectives: To assess the asscoiation of selected behavioural and occupational risk factors
with cervical disc herniation (CDH) or lumbar disc herniation (LDH)
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 77 (18-70 years) patients who
undergone discectomy for either CDH or LDH in a selected hospital. An interviewer
administered questionnaire was used to gather information related to socio-demographic,
behavioural, occupational risk factors. Independent sample t-test and Pearson Chi-Square test
were used to determine associations. p <0.05 was considered as the level of significance.
Results: There were 54.5% males and 45.5% females while mean (±SD) body mass index of
subjects was 23.8 (±3.8) kg/m2
. There were 64.9% patients presented with LDH while
remaining had CDH. Mean age of the participants was 49.5 (±12.9) years. There were 79.2%
non-smokers and 70.1% nonalcoholics. These did not have any significant difference with
CDH and LDH. Majority of CDH (77.7%) and LDH (90%) did not involve in any sports while
53.2% involved in physical exersices. Among the patients, CDH (22.2%) and LDH (26%)
involved in heavy strain to back/neck exercises with no significant difference with type of
exercises. More than 80% of patients were involved in heavy (45.5%) and moderate strenuous
occupational work (44.2%) and mean duration of occupation of patients was 22.7 (±11.9)
years. There was no significant association between physical demanding nature of occupation
and duration of occupation in CDH and LDH.
Conclusions: There was no significant association with selected behavioral risk factors such as
type of exercise, type of sports and occupational risk factors such as physical demanding
nature of occupation, duration of occupation and social history of smoking and alcohol
consumption with CDH and LDH.
