PREVALENCE OF HAMSTRING FLEXIBILITY AMONG PROFESSIONAL PHYSIOTHERAPISTS AND ITS RELATION TO LOW BACK PAIN

Abstract

Background: Muscular and skeletal pain affects approximately half of physical therapists within five years. Early age physical therapists experience early pain due to inexperience with intervention positions. Most physical therapists develop muscular and skeletal injuries before thirty. These impairments affect the back and leg muscles, cervical area, shoulders, hands, wrists, and knees. Objectives:  The objective of this study was to the find of hamstring flexibility in professional physiotherapist. Secondly to determine the association of low back pain with hamstring flexibility. Material and methods: A random sample of 80 professional physical therapists from Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, District Headquarter Hospital, Faisalabad, Madina Teaching Hospital Faisalabad was considered.  After singing the consent form, therapist assessed participants by active knee extension test for measuring hamstring flexibility.  Generally, angle below 20 degrees are considered normal. If the tightness is between 21 and 30 degrees, it was considered mild; between 31 and 40 degrees, it is considered moderate; and over 40 degrees, it was considered severe. Then low back pain assessed by numeric pain rating scale to find association between hamstring flexibility and incidence of low back pain. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 80 physiotherapists from hospitals in Faisalabad. Hamstring flexibility was evaluated using the Active Knee Extension (AKE) test. LBP was assessed via the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) and Oswestry Low Back Disability Index (ODI). Data were analyzed using SPSS 20 with chi-square tests. Results: 77.5% participants exhibited hamstring tightness. Significant association was found between hamstring tightness and LBP (p<0.05). The mean NPRS score was 4.50±1.62, indicating moderate pain, and the mean ODI score was 16.36±8.94, indicating moderate disability. Conclusion: Hamstring tightness is prevalent among physiotherapists and significantly associated with low back pain and disability