Prevalence of low back pain and other musculoskeletal symptoms and their association with work in Finnish reindeer herders.

The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms was determined in a population-based sample of 2720 male reindeer herders in Finland by postal questionnaires sent out in 1986 and 1988. Sixty per cent reported back pain, 32% sciatica, 51% neck-shoulder pain, and 49% pain, aching or tenderness in at least one joint during the past 12 months. The neck-shoulder and joint symptoms increased with the annual amount of reindeer herding work done in persons below 50 years of age. The association of back pain with the amount of work was weak, and no consistent association was found for sciatica. Neck-shoulder and joint symptoms were most frequently exacerbated by physically heavy work such as slaughtering the reindeer. It is suggested that self-reported neck-shoulder and joint symptoms are associated with reindeer herding, but that the association is partly biased due to selection of disease-prone older individuals for less demanding tasks.