Author(s):

Nimra Tariq, Zaryyab*, Muhammad Atif Javed, Naseem Ahmad Siddique, Ayesha Zafar and Muhammad Amjad Hussain

Background: Low back pain is defined as pain, muscular tension or stiffness localized below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal folds, with or without leg pain. Low back pain affects all age groups and is generally associated with sedentary occupations or lifestyle, smoking, obesity and a low economic level. Objective: To determine the prevalence of disability levels of low back pain among heavy vehicle transport drivers. Methodology: A cross sectional survey was conducted through non probability convenient sampling among transport drivers of heavy vehicles. A total of 323 participants, with low back pain participated in the study. Individuals aged between 25 to 47 years with low back pain were included in the study. Data was collected from different transport terminals, hospitals and clinics of Lahore. Pain and disability was measured from modified oswestry low back pain disability questionnaire [1]. Data analysis was done by IBM SPSS Statistics 21. Results: results showed that the minimum age of individuals participated in the study was 25 years and the maximum age was 47 years. It also showed the disability levels among 323 drivers, out of which 66(20.4%) participants had minimal disability and 61(18.9%) of the individuals showed severe disability. However, highest prevalence of disability was seen at moderate level i.e. 196(60.7%) of the individuals. Conclusion: This study concluded a highest prevalence of moderate level of disability in drivers. Also a strong relationship was between low back pain and work years. This concluded that as the years of working of a driver will increase, so is the risk factor of having moderate of severe disability because of increase in low back pain.