INTRODUCTION: To investigate the etiology of musculoskeletal symptoms in teachers, studies have addressed the relationship between teaching and possible peculiarities of the profession that can lead to physical illness of teachers. OBJECTIVE: To identify the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms of elementary school teachers in Matinhos (PR). MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was evaluated 126 teachers (120 women and 6 six men, 38.6 ± 9 years old) through a questionnaire containing an inventory for general and occupational data and the Nordic questionnaire. In the statistical analysis we compared independent variables from inventory for general and occupational data dependent with dependent variables of Nordic questionnaire by multivariate logistic regression analysis and chi-squared test to compare (p < 0.05). RESULTS: The presence of pain did not indicate relationship with age, physical activity, number of students per class or time of profession (p > 0.05), although the number of classes per teacher was significant (p = 0.02). However, the pain in the last 12 months was related to prevent activities in the last 12 months and also to assistance by health professional (p > 0.05). Musculoskeletal symptoms occurred in 95.2% of participants. The most affected regions were: lower back (51.5%), chest (49.2%), shoulders (49.2%) and neck (47.6%). CONCLUSION: Thus, teachers presented high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms especially in lower back, chest and shoulders, and these prevented daily activities.
Musculoskeletal diseases; Occupational diseases; Occupational health; Faculty
