Common musculoskeletal problems faced by college-going students and professionals owing to work from home during COVID-19 lockdown and awareness of physiotherapy among them.

Background: Outbreak of Corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic, government of India announced a nationwide lock down. Thus, Students and working professionals were compelled to work from home, acquiring poor posture and prolonged working hours leading to several musculoskeletal problems with various associated symptoms. Objective: The objective of present study is determining the effects of work from home, their working hours and predominantly attained posture on their musculoskeletal health and broadly to approximate the awareness regarding need and importance of physiotherapy among them. Method and Materials: This study is a cross-sectional study. 320 college going individuals and work professionals of age group between 17 years and 30 years participated in an online survey with their voluntary consent. The questionnaire was directed using a link shared on social media applications and collected responses of each participant and were analyzed by using Google Form and IBM SPSS Statistics version 26 was used to determine the normality. Result: Out of 320 participants, 41.9% and 43.1% suffered from neck pain and back pain respectively, out of which 59.7% and 46.7% participant’s symptoms were lock down specific for neck pain and low back pain respectively i.e. either originated or aggravated during the period of lockdown. Participants acquiring sitting posture were suspected to have more prevalent neck pain (57.5%) and low back pain (53.1%) during the period of lock down, followed by lying (31.3% and 34.4%) and reclining (11.3% and 12.5%) for neck pain and low back pain respectively. 66.4% of the participants experienced headache associated with their neck pain i.e. Cervicogenic headache (CGH). 32.8% and 34.% of the participants experiencing pain, also experienced radiating symptoms in upper and lower extremities respectively. Median of the visual analogue pain scale for neck pain and low back pain came out to be 5.00 (3.00-6.00) and 5.00 (4.00-7.00) respectively and physical activity per week of the 320 individuals came out to be 4:15:00 hours (1:00:00 hour-12:00:00hours). 89.7% of the total participants were aware about the physiotherapy and 27.8% claimed that their condition demands physiotherapy assistance by professionals. Conclusion: The present study concludes a common trend of long hours of sitting and lack of physical activity in students and working professionals during this lockdown period, resulted in acute pain in the neck and back region or had worsened the symptoms. Keywords: Coronavirus infections, Low Back Pain, Neck Pain, Cervicogenic Pain

背景：新型冠状病毒（Corona Virus, COVID-19）全球大流行暴发后，印度政府宣布实施全国性封锁措施。在此背景下，学生与职场从业者被迫居家办公，因姿势不良且工作时长过长，引发诸多肌肉骨骼问题及多种伴随症状。
目的：本研究旨在探究居家办公模式、每日工作时长及主要采用的姿势对肌骨骼健康的影响，并初步评估受试者对物理治疗（physiotherapy）的需求与重要性的认知水平。
方法与材料：本研究为横断面研究（cross-sectional study）。共招募320名年龄介于17至30岁的在校学生与职场从业者，在自愿签署知情同意书后参与线上问卷调查。问卷通过社交媒体平台分享的链接发放，收集所有参与者的应答数据；采用谷歌表单（Google Form）进行数据归集，并使用IBM SPSS Statistics 26版本开展正态性检验。
结果：320名参与者中，分别有41.9%与43.1%存在颈痛与背痛症状；其中59.7%的颈痛参与者、46.7%的腰背痛参与者表示其症状为封锁期特异性，即于封锁期间首次出现或症状加重。采用坐姿的参与者在封锁期内颈痛（57.5%）与腰背痛（53.1%）的患病率更高，其次为躺姿（颈痛31.3%、腰背痛34.4%）与半躺姿（颈痛11.3%、腰背痛12.5%）。66.4%的参与者存在伴随颈痛的头痛症状，即颈源性头痛（Cervicogenic Headache, CGH）。32.8%与34.0%的疼痛参与者分别出现上肢与下肢放射痛症状。颈痛与腰背痛的视觉模拟疼痛量表（Visual Analogue Pain Scale）中位数分别为5.00（四分位距3.00~6.00）与5.00（四分位距4.00~7.00）；320名参与者的周均体力活动时长为4小时15分钟（四分位距1小时~12小时）。89.7%的参与者知晓物理治疗，其中27.8%的参与者认为自身状况需要专业物理治疗干预。
结论：本研究表明，新冠封锁期间学生与职场从业者普遍存在长时间久坐且缺乏体力活动的情况，这导致颈背部急性疼痛或使原有症状加重。
关键词：冠状病毒感染（Coronavirus infections）、腰背痛（Low Back Pain）、颈痛（Neck Pain）、颈源性疼痛（Cervicogenic Pain）