Associação entre o nível de exercício físico e a presença de sintomas osteomusculares em estudantes de nível superior

Abstract

Graduation acts in the area of health and quality of life as a risk factor for the involvement of chronic nontransmittable diseases, more specifically disorders related to the musculoskeletal system. It is believied that by improving physical valences such as strength, muscular and aerobic endurance and flexibility, the student can present greater tolerance to the requirements of his graduation. In this way, this research built a correlation between the level of physical exercise and the absence of musculoskeletal pain, using two distinct questionnaires that qualitatively evaluate these two variables. An adapted version of the Long IPAQ was used to quantify the exercise level of the sample, while the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (QNSO) assessed the prevalence of pain manifestations in individuals. University students were chosen as research subject. 103 scholars from the Federal Technological University of Paraná were part of the research. The sample consisted of 74 men and 29 women, and the students in the Exact area comprised 87.4% of the total number of individuals. The data on the level of physical activity were compared to criteria suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the subjects divided into two groups, those who attend and those who do not meet the weekly WHO exercise parameters. The chi-square test was used for the correlation between the level of physical activity and the presence of musculoskeletal symptoms, observed here by the number of YES responses in the QNSO. Four statistical calculations were made, one for each QNSO question and all got different results. Questions I, II, and III resulted in weak coefficients, while IV presented a strong correlation. Conclusion. There was a lower presence of symptoms in students who exercised as proposed by WHO. Although the result of the statistical analysis has reflected in three weak correlations and one strong, a larger sample would reflect in better statistical calculations. In addition, the means of the sum of YES responses in the QNSO were lower for those who exercised more.