Joint Hypermobility and Musculoskeletal Pain in Paramedical Students and Staff at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Objective: to determine the frequency of joint hypermobility in paramedical students and staff at National Hospital Lahore.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Rheumatology, National Hospital and Medical Center, Lahore Pakistan, from Mar to Sep 2021. Methodology: Two hundred fifty paramedical students and staff of either gender, aged between 16 years to 35 years were enrolled. Localized Joint Hypermobility was defined as <3 Score and generalized Joint Hypermobility were defined as >4 scores on the Beighton Score Scale. Demographic information was obtained from each participant, and joint hypermobility was assessed by using the Beighton score.

Results: Mean age of the study participnats was 26.6±4.6 years with 146(58.24%) females. Mean BMI was 23.9±4.0 kg/m2. Generalized Joint Hypermobility was seen in 51(20.4%), and 31(12.4%) had localized hypermobility. Out of 250 participants, 33 (13.2%) had musculoskeletal pain, while among 51 patients with generalized hypermobility, 12(23.5%) had musculoskeletal pain.

Conclusion: One out of every five young healthy paramedics enrolled had generalized joint hypermobility. One-third of subjects had at least one clinically documented hypermobile joint. Almost every fourth person with generalized joint hypermobility has musculoskeletal pain compared to 1 in 10 persons without generalized hypermobility.

Keywords: Beighton score scale, Generalized joint hypermobility, Localized joint hypermobility, Musculoskeletal pain.