Personality and Its Relationship with Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders

Background: Individual factors are usually important as non-occupational parameters that participate in the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Personality traits are one of the individual factors that affect physical illness, which are constant over time, thereby reflecting stable individual differences. Identifying the personality trait can be used to predict musculoskeletal disorders in workers and select individual with appropriate personality traits for different works. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to identify the personality traits used to determine the relationship between different personality traits and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Methods: 136 people of 2 different companies in Tabriz (in 2015) were selected as the study population. The first group was selected from the petrochemical repair workers and the second from a dairy factory. The 50-item version of Goldberg’s big five personality scale was used to assess the personality traits. Nordic questionnaire was employed to evaluate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Chi-square test was incorporated for analyzing the data. Finally, logistic regression test was used to study the factors affecting upper and lower body pain. Results: Results indicated that individual personality traits were associated with musculoskeletal disorder prevalence in some members of body: Extraversion with wrist (P-value = 0.013) and hip (P-value = 0.044), emotional stability with shoulder (P-value = 0.012), wrist (P-value = 0.043), back (P-value = 0.034), low back (P-value = 0.029) and ankle( P-value = 0.014), Conscientiousness with Hip ( P-value = 0.009), Agreeableness with shoulder (P-value = 0.004), back (P-value = 0.001), Hip ( P-value = 0.006) and ankle ( P-value = 0.019). Conclusions: According to the results of this study, the personality traits can contribute to musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, notice of personality traits can be used to predict individuals who are prone to musculoskeletal disorders. Necessary actions may be tailored for the people that are proportional to individual personality traits to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. As a further study, it is recommended that a better relationship may be revealed between personality traits and musculoskeletal disorders.