Surgeons’ hunched backs are worse than miners’

THE risks of surgery to patients are well known – but it turns out that going into theatre also presents considerable hazards for the surgeons.

Those who spend hours hunched over the operating table are more likely to wind up with more painful back, neck, shoulder, arm and hand problems than coal miners or labourers, a study has found.

It said repetitive movements, awkward postures and long hours in the theatre are creating ‘an impending epidemic’ of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

The poor working environment forced one in eight to go off sick, take early retirement or change how they work.

MSDs are preventable disorders affecting muscles, tendons, and nerves.

They include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, degenerative

‘Impending epidemic’

spine disease, thoracic outlet syndrome and tension neck syndrome.

Professor Bernard Lee, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, said: ‘Procedural physicians, such as surgeons and interventional medical specialists, have a high risk for work-related MSDs.

‘Ergonomists have described the surgeon’s work environment and conditions as equal to, if not at times harsher than, those of certain industrial workers.’

Professor Lee analysed 21 articles involving 5,828 doctors in 23 countries between 1974 and 2016 looking at the disease prevalence for the neck, shoulder, back, and upper extremity injuries and any resulting disability.

Writing in the journal JAMA Surgery, Professor Lee said: ‘Like workers in other occupations, physicians have a right to practise their profession in a safe environment.’