Analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms (pain) and characteristics of the anthropometric parameters in the military personnel

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders are connected to external and internal factors. External conditions in the military environment are characterized with a high physical load and psychological load. Internal factors are connect to individual health capacity, anthropometric characteristics, posture and foot state or the deviation from the standard. The pain is a common subjective sign of musculoskeletal pathology. The pain symptoms could be the initial symptom of musculoskeletal pathology which is an important cause of morbidity in the military service [6, 7]. The nature of the musculoskeletal problems suggests that a combination of ergonomic and individual/organizational intrinsic and extrinsic factors are associated with the military environment. We have provided for the analysis of cadets of the national Defence Academy in the period 2013–2014 the anthropometric parameters, the calculation of the body fat range according to the Guidelines of WHO and the data of the standardized Nordic Questionnaire for the Analysis Musculoskeletal Symptoms. The analysis of the average value of the body mass index fixed differences between the respondents’ groups. The assessment of the range of the body mass index revealed that the number of the individuals related to the overweight problems increased with the age about 1.5 times. Evaluations of the body fat range have shown that the number of the individuals with the healthy assessment of the body fat range decreased about two times with the age. Military training conditions with the combination of the intrinsic (individual) factors form the risk for musculoskeletal disorders. The most common problematic areas of pain are the lower back region, the hip joint region, the knee joint region, but the largest problem is the combined pain for the lower back and the knee joint region. The analysis of anthropometric parameters and evaluation of data Questionnaire for Analysis Musculoskeletal Symptoms may be important to provide preventive measures to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders linked to a specific job and the treatment at the early stage where the combination of the extrinsic factors condition and intrinsic factors is present.