title: [Awareness of occupational low back pain: a survey of 244 midwives].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the awareness of occupational low back pain and knowledge of related prevention and healthcare measures among midwives, and to determine the incidence of low back pain among them.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire survey was carried out with the use of Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (Chinese version) (CRMDQ) among 244 midwives from second- and third-class hospitals in Tianjin, China. Related indices were statistically analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 244 midwives who participated in the survey, only 18.4% knew the definition of occupational low back pain, 28.3% knew the pathogenic mechanism, and 54.1% knew its harm. About 9.4%∼85.2% of midwives mastered at least one method for prevention and health care against occupational low back pain. Proper or improper use of human body mechanics was closely related to the development of occupational low back pain (P < 0.01). There was a high proportion of midwives with a demand for application of human body mechanics principle in operation, and the proportion was as high as 99.2%. All the 24 items in CRMDQ were scored, with the lowest score of 1, the highest score of 24, and an average score of 8.5 ± 7.2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The awareness rate of occupational low back pain was low among the 244 midwives in this study. The incidence of low back pain, which had influenced the health status and occupational practice, was high among them.
authors.affiliation: Department of gynecology and obstetrics, TianJin first central hospital, TianJin 300192, China. E-mail: tjfchyezhao@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Department of gynecology and obstetrics, TianJin first central hospital, TianJin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of gynecology and obstetrics, TianJin first central hospital, TianJin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Qingmei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of gynecology and obstetrics, TianJin first central hospital, TianJin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Zhijie
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Department of gynecology and obstetrics, TianJin first central hospital, TianJin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Department of gynecology and obstetrics, TianJin first central hospital, TianJin 300192, China.
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008880:Midwifery; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires