705 - Strain-Free Work: Empowering Residents to Combat Low Back and Wrist Pain

Objectives: This quality improvement project aims to identify the prevalence of low back and wrist pain among residents in a medium-sized physical medicine and rehabilitation program, provide interventions of workplace ergonomics and static stretching and strengthening exercises, and evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions. Primary outcomes include frequency of low back pain, intensity of low back pain, exercise per week, and time exercising per week.

Design: The pre-intervention phase involved a survey assessing the frequency and severity of low back and wrist pain, while the intervention phase included two educational sessions. These sessions educated residents on ergonomic adjustments and static stretching and strengthening exercises. Post-intervention surveys were conducted after three months and evaluated pain frequency, severity, and satisfaction. REDCap was used for survey creation and distribution. Descriptive statistics compared pre- and post-intervention surveys.

Results: Initial prevalence of low back and wrist pain was 60% and 20% respectively. Low back pain frequency decreased by 10%. Low back pain intensity also decreased, particularly in experiencing little to no pain. Wrist pain frequency decreased by 10%. Residents perceived ergonomic adjustments as slightly to very effective for low back pain and slightly to moderately effective for wrist pain. Static stretching exercises were considered slightly to very effective for low back pain and moderately effective for wrist pain.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that residents responded more favorably to chair yoga exercises with results suggesting a reduction in the frequency and intensity of low back pain over a period of three-months. Chair yoga had a greater effect on reducing both low back and wrist pain; however, the prevalence of wrist pain was low. Workplace ergonomic changes were difficult to apply due to a lack of furniture and peripheral devices that allowed adjustment.