The Unseen Strain: Investigating the Awareness of Rhinoplasty Surgeons Regarding Their Spine Health

Overview

Musculoskeletal pain is a recognized occupational problem for surgeons, affecting productivity and quality of life. The authors surveyed plastic surgeons performing rhinoplasty internationally to measure how common back pain is, what contributes to it, and how much functional disability results. The questionnaire covered background details, operating posture, length of practice, surgical duration and any related surgery or hospitalization, followed by the Total Disability Index.

Sections of note

• Design: structured online questionnaire distributed internationally to rhinoplasty surgeons.
• 93.6 percent of respondents reported back pain, with low back pain the most common at 76.7 percent.
• Average pain intensity for low back pain: 44.8, standard deviation 26.8.
• Mean Total Disability Index score: 31, standard deviation 12.1.
• 58.2 percent of surgeons experienced mild to moderate disability.
• Pain severity and disability were significantly associated with body mass index, exercise, years of rhinoplasty practice, number of surgeries per week and average procedure length.
• Only 16.4 percent had received previous ergonomic training or education.
• The abstract does not state how many surgeons responded.

What it means for a patient

• This concerns surgeons rather than patients, though workforce health affects who is able to keep operating.
• Longer operations and higher weekly caseloads were both associated with worse pain, which links directly to how a practice is scheduled.
• Exercise and body mass index were also associated, meaning some contributing factors are modifiable.
• Limits: self reported survey with an unstated response count, no comparison against non-surgeon controls, and no measure of whether pain affected surgical performance.

Why this paper matters

Rhinoplasty involves prolonged fixed posture over a small field, which is the profile associated with spinal strain. Documenting how widespread the problem is, alongside the near absence of ergonomic training, identifies an untouched intervention point. Whether ergonomic training reduces pain in this group has not been tested.

Terms

• Musculoskeletal pain: pain arising from muscles, joints, ligaments or bone.
• Ergonomics: designing work posture and equipment to reduce physical strain.
• Total Disability Index: a questionnaire scoring how much pain limits daily function.
• Body mass index: a weight to height ratio used as a rough measure of body size.
• Occupational health: health problems arising from the way work is performed.