Evaluating musculoskeletal disorders in nearly healthy subjects (the EMERCOM of Russia employees): methods, results, and disorders

Relevance: the study considers the screening of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in nearly healthy employees working in hazardous high-risk environments. The paper presents a newly developed method to assess MSDs and obtained examination results in the Russian EMERCOM employee cohort.

The objective is to develop and test a new MSD assessment method in nearly healthy subjects employed by the EMERCOM of Russia.

Materials and methods: the study involved 170 fire-rescue taskforce officers of the Russian EMERCOM, including 119 nearly healthy subjects and 59 in-patients undergoing MSD treatment. All subjects were males of 32.8 years average age (ranging from 19 to 45 years). The study utilized the innovative method for MSD Evaluation in Nearly Healthy Individuals, as well as the Oxford Knee Score, the Womack scale, and expert evaluation. The Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis H test were utilized for statistical analysis.

Results and discussion. Ten orthopedics and traumatology practitioners were engaged to evaluate the significance of 58 indicators from the MSD Evaluation checklist developed on the basis of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) (Tsykunov, 2020), in order to outline the most informative indicators for MSD assessment in nearly healthy individuals exposed to hazardous and high-risk occupational environments. Thirteen most relevant indicators were selected to develop the innovative checklist for MSD Evaluation in Nearly Healthy Individuals. The checklist was applied to examine 170 officers of the Russian EMERCOM. Statistics in the nearly healthy subjects was analyzed and compared to the MSD group, considering the age difference and severity of impairment.

Conclusion: the new method demonstrated efficiency as a valid tool for MSD screening at regular medical examinations of nearly healthy individuals working in hazardous and/or high-risk environments, including the Russian EMERCOM officers. The study revealed that 66% of the examined EMERCOM employees presented with various MSDs, including mild (30%), moderate (24%), and severe (12%) disorders.

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