Ergonomics of gastrointestinal endoscopies: Musculoskeletal injury among endoscopy physicians, nurses, and technicians

Table 1 Demographics

Demographics	n = 56 (%)
Mean age, yr	35.09 (18-62)
Male	39 (69.6)
Female	17 (30.3)
Endoscopist	13 (23.2)
GI resident	9 (16.1)
Endoscopy nurse	15 (26.8)
Endoscopy technician	19 (33.9)
Mean number of endoscopies performed per week	63.85

Table 1 shows the demographic representation of our respondents out of n = 56. We stratified our data based on gender and profession to analyze musculoskeletal injuries. GI: Gastrointestinal.

Table 2 Spectrum of musculoskeletal injuries amongst subgroups of endoscopic team

	Endoscopist	GI resident	Endoscopy nurse	E. technician	P value
Pain or numbness (%)					0.22
Yes	7 (53.8)	7 (77.8)	13 (86.7)	15 (78.9)
No	6 (46.2)	2 (22.2)	2 (13.3)	4 (21.1)
Left thumb pain (%)					0.02
Yes	2 (15.4)	0	2 (13.3)	0
No	11 (84.6)	9 (100)	13 (86.7)	19 (100)
Right thumb pain (%)
Yes	0	3 (33.3)	0	0
No	13 (100)	6 (66.7)	15 (100)	19 (100)
Left shoulder pain (%)					0.48
Yes	0	0	1 (6.6)	0
No	13 (100)	9 (100)	14 (93.4)	19 (100)
Right shoulder pain (%)
Yes	0	1 (11.1)	0	0
No	13 (100)	8 (88.9)	15 (100)	19 (100)
Both shoulder pain (%)
Yes	2 (15.4)	2 (22.2)	3 (20)	3 (15.7)
No	11 (84.6)	7 (77.8)	12 (80)	16 (84.)
Left hand pain (%)					0.06
Yes	0	0	2 (13.3)	0
No	13 (100)	9 (100)	13 (86.7)	19 (100)
Right hand pain (%)
Yes	0	2 (22.2)	1 (6.6)	1 (5.3)
No	13 (100)	7 (77.8)	14 (93.4)	18 (94.7)
Both hand pain (%)
Yes	0	0	2 (13.3)	5 (26.3)
No	13 (100)	9 (100)	13 (86.7)	14 (73.7)
Neck/upper back (%)					0.004
Yes	3 (23.1)	5 (55.5)	6 (40)	9 (47.3)
No	10 (76.9)	4 (44.5)	9 (60)	10 (52.7)
Lower back (%)
Yes	2 (15.4)	1 (11.1)	8 (53.3)	7 (36.8)
No	11 (84.6)	8 (88.9)	7 (46.7)	12 (63.2)
Left elbow pain (%)					0.57
Yes	0	0	1 (6.6)	0
No	13 (100)	9 (100)	14 (93.4)	19 (100)
Right elbow pain (%)
Yes	1 (7.6)	1 (11.8)	1 (6.6)	0
No	12 (92.4)	8 (88.2)	14 (93.4)	19 (100)
Both elbow pain (%)
Yes	0	0	1 (6.6)	0
No	13 (100)	9 (100)	14 (93.4)	19 (100)
L hand numbness (%)					0.59
Yes	1 (7.6)	0	1 (6.6)	0
No	12 (92.4)	9 (100)	14 (93.4)	19 (100)
R hand numbness (%)
Yes	0	1 (11.1)	0	1 (5.2)
No	13 (100)	8 (88.9)	15 (100)	18 (94.8)
B/l hand numbness (%)
Yes	0	0	1 (6.6)	0
No	13 (100)	9 (100)	14 (93.4)	19 (100)
Carpal tunnel (%)					0.00
Yes	0	0	2 (13.3)	2 (10.5)
No	13 (100)	9 (100)	13 (86.6)	17 (89.5)

GI: Gastrointestinal.

Table 3 Spectrum of musculoskeletal injuries according to gender amongst various subgroups in the endoscopic team

	Male				P value	Female				P value
	Endoscopist (%)	GI resident (%)	Nurse (%)	Technicians (%)		Endoscopist (%)	GI resident (%)	Nurse (%)	Technicians (%)
Pain					0.536						0.148
Yes	7 (58.3)	5 (71.4)	2 (100)	14 (77.8)		0 (0)	2 (100)	11 (84.6)	1 (100)
No	5 (41.7)	2 (28.6)	0	4 (22.2)		1 (100)	0	2 (15.4)	0
Thumb pain					0.028						0.207
Left	2 (16.7)	0	0	0		0	0	2 (15.4)	0
Right	0	2 (28.6)	0	0		0	1 (50)	0	0
No	10 (83.3)	5 (71.4)	2 (100)	18 (100)		1 (100)	1 (50)	11 (84.6)	18
Shoulder pain					0.472						0.152
Yes	2 (16.7)	2 (28.6)	1 (50)	2 (11.1)		0	1 (50)	3 (23.1)	1 (100)
No	10 (83.3)	5 (71.4)	1 (50)	16 (88.9)		1 (100)	1 (50)	13 (76.9)	0
Hand					0.001						0.898
Left	0	0	1 (50)	0		0	0	1 (7.7)	0
Right	0	1 (14.2)	0	1 (5.55)		0	1 (50)	1 (7.7)	0
Both	0	0	0	5 (27.7)		0	0	2 (15.4)	0
No	12 (100)	6 (85.7)	1 (50)	12 (66.6)		1 (100)	1 (50)	9 (69.2)	1 (100)
Neck pain					0.029						0.258
Yes	3 (25)	3 (42.9 )	0 (0)	8 (66)		0 (0)	2 (100)	6 (46.2)	1 (100)
No	9 (75)	4 (57.1)	2 (100)	4 (44)		1 (100)	0 (0)	7 (53.8)	0
Lower back pain					0.003						0.3
Yes	2 (16.7)	1 (14.3)	2 (100)	6 (54.5)		0 (0)	0 (0)	6 (46.2)	1 (100)
No	10 (83.3)	6 (85.7)	0	5 (45.5)		1 (100)	2 (100)	7 (53.8)	0
Elbow pain					0.468						0.99
Yes	1 (8.3)	1 (14.3)	0	0		0 (0)	0 (0)	3 (23.1)	0
No	11 (91.7)	6 (85.7)	2 (100)	18 (100)		1 (100)	2 (100)	10 (76.9)	1
Hand numbness					0.75						0.489
Left	1 (8.3)	0	0 (0)	1 (5.6)		0 (0)	1 (50)	2 (15.4)	0
Right	11 (91.7)	7	2 (100)	17 (94.4)		1 (100)	1 (50)	11 (84.6)	1
Both
No
Carpal tunnel					0.007						0.874
Yes	0	0	0	2 (22)		0 (0)	0	2 (15.4)	0
No	12	7	2	7 (78)		1 (100)	2	11 (84.6)	1