Abstract:
Background: The primary care givers are the ones who take care of the child with CP
like their mothers, grandmothers, aunties or aayas. Musculoskeletal disorders can be of
various types such as neck pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, wrist/ hand pain, upper back
pain, low back pain, hip pain, knee pain and ankle pain. The children with CP may need
complete assistance in their ADLs like eating, changing clothes, bathing, toileting,
changing positions, walking and even standing needing permanent assistance by their
primary caregivers significantly causing the musculoskeletal disorders to the caregivers.
Objectives: To find out the presence, causes and types of MSDs in primary caregivers of
the cerebral palsy children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done. The primary
caregivers of CP children at William & Marie Taylor School and others coming for the
treatment at pediatric (IP & OP) department of CRP, Savar were the study population.
There were 101 participants who performed face to face data collection procedures for
CSI, Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Socio-demographic Questionnaire.
Results: It was found that most of the primary care givers of children with CP were their
mothers (100%) which show that likely to the Asian culture the children are primarily
cared by the female members of their family. The participants were mostly from Islamic
religion (97%) having the system of consanguineous marriage and their related genetic
causes. Most of the participants reside at rural part (59%) of the country. Most of these
participants were found to have wrist/ hand disorders (77.3%). As mothers of children
with CP are considered to be their primary caregivers and spend most of the time with
them so they are mostly affected physically and psychologically. Conclusion:
Musculoskeletal disorders were commonly seen in primary caregivers of CP child related
to the care and services provided to them. Most of these caregivers were found to have
wrist/ hand disorders among the nine types of disorders. For CSI among the maximum
participants it was found to be that there have been work adjustments e.g., because of
having to take time off.
Keywords: Musculoskeletal disorders, Cerebral palsy, Primary Caregivers,
Caregiver Strain
Description:
A thesis is submitted to the SSARC Regional Interprofessional Master’s Program in Rehabilitation Science of Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of M.Sc. in Rehabilitation Science, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh: