BACKGROUND:

Mismatch between classroom furniture and the students’ anthropometry have been identified as a major cause of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among students. Such discomforts can affect students’ performance.

OBJECTIVE:

This paper is aimed at investigating the prevalence of MSDs and the effect of furniture intervention among students of tertiary institutions in Northwest Nigeria.

METHODS:

The Cornell’s MSD questionnaire was used to investigate the prevalence of MSDs in twelve body regions of students aged between 16 and 25 years. Eleven students’ anthropometric dimensions were also measured and used to compute the ergonomically compliant furniture dimensions for the participants. A new set of furniture was introduced, and the questionnaire was used to investigate if the intervention made was significant or not. The academic performance of some of the students before and after the intervention was analyzed using the t-test statistical technique.

RESULT:

None of the furniture in use was suitable for the majority of the students. MSDs prevalence ranges from 14% to 67.3% among the body regions with the students reporting that low back pain is the most prevalent (67.3%), severe (19.4%) and interfering with their studies (15.8%). The intervention also reduced MSDs in all body regions except at the upper arm and the right side of the forearm. Only sitting, knee, and popliteal heights were significantly associated with MSD occurrence. There was also a significant improvement in the students’ academic performance after the intervention (t=–3.239, p= 0.002).

CONCLUSION:

The limited success of the intervention is an indication of the need to carry out a more holistic intervention that incorporates other inputs such as continuous enlightenment and classroom facility design.