Musculoskeletal pain survey and bathing posture risk assessment for long-term care staff

Abstract

Long-term care staff often experience heavy workloads and physical and mental fatigue. Among caregiving tasks, bathing is particularly physically demanding, requiring repeated actions such as turning, transferring, washing, rinsing, drying, and dressing or undressing residents. Turning and transferring are especially strenuous. This study investigated musculoskeletal pain among long-term care staff and evaluated the postural risks they face during bathing to inform the design of work procedures and assistive devices in long-term care facilities.The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was used to assess musculoskeletal pain in 10 caregivers from three long-term care institutions in Taiwan, while the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) was applied to evaluate postural risks during bathing. All institutions and participants joined the study voluntarily with prior consent.The results showed that the mean musculoskeletal pain score was 1.58 (SD = 1.43), indicating mild to moderate pain, with an average prevalence of 65%. The most severe pain was reported in the lower back (M = 2.1, SD = 1.64) and left elbow/forearm (M = 2.1, SD = 1.51). Lower back pain was more severe than upper back pain, and right-side pain was generally more severe than left-side pain. The mean REBA score during bathing was 11.4 (SD = 0.92), indicating a high-risk posture that requires immediate intervention and movement modification. The trunk (M = 4.2, SD = 0.6) and upper limbs (M = 3.7, SD = 0.46) showed the highest postural risk. These findings suggest that bathing is a high-risk caregiving task. Long-term care institutions should strengthen staff training and improve assistive device design to reduce the risk of occupational injury.

Keywords: Long-term Care, Caregivers, Industrial Design, Postural Risk Assessment, Musculoskeletal Pain

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007438