Background and Purpose: Job stress is an important psychological factor. Musculoskeletal
disorders are among the most common causes of disability in industrialized and developing
countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess job stress and its relationship with the prevalence
of musculoskeletal disorders in office workers of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
Materials and Methods: A total of 234 office workers from Zahedan University of Medical
Sciences were selected by census sampling. Data were collected using the Health and Safety
Executive’s Management Standards Indicator Tool and the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort
Questionnaire. Pearson’s correlation coefficients, independent t-test, analysis of variance, and
chi-square tests were performed to analyze the data.
Results: The mean age and work experience of the participants were 35.25 ± 8.37 and 9.20 ± 2.64
years, respectively. The mean stress scores of men and women were 95.6 ± 13.1 and 95.2 ± 14.8,
respectively. Stress showed a significant relationship with pain intensity in the middle and lower
back, shoulders, and wrists. It was also significantly related with the frequency of pain in the neck,
upper back, middle back, lower back, (left) shoulder, and both wrists (P ≤ 0.050).
Conclusion: There were significant relationships between stress and pain in different parts of
the body among office workers. In fact, high levels of stress were associated with
musculoskeletal disorders and pain in different limbs of the subjects. Hence, stress reduction
programs should be implemented to control the levels of stress and the incidence of
musculoskeletal disorders among the studied workers.