Comparison between Work Related Musculoskeletal Wrist Pain and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome among Students of Figurative Painting and Calligraphy

Objective: To compare painting related variables for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and musculoskeletal wrist pain among students of calligraphy and figurative painting. Methodology: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 212 participants from 21 January to 25 May 2023. The data was collected from the fine arts departments of public and private universities in Sialkot, Pakistan. Phalen’s clinical test was used to screen the CTS and Boston carpal tunnel questionnaire was used as an outcome measuring tool. SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data. Mean, Standard deviation and Independent-t-test was used to compare the groups at significance level (p=0.05). Results: Out of 212, (N=148, 69.81%) were participants in figurative painting (group A) and (N=64, 30.18%) were in calligraphy (group B) with positive Phalen test. The total mean score of symptom severity scale for CTS was (26.49 ± 6.25) and functional status (21.26±7.58) which determines moderate difficulty with routine tasks. The symptom severity scale for CTS among groups A and B had mean scores (27.83 ± 6.20) and (23.40, ± 5.20) whereas the functional status scale among group A; had mean scores (23.20 ± 7.67) and B (16.79, ± 5.13) respectively. Factors that showed significant difference between painters and calligraphers BCTQ were working hours, medium of paints, size of paint brushes and types of paint brushes (p-value= 0.00). Conclusion: The results of this study showed an overall 'moderate' symptom severity and functional difficulty level among participants with CTS but figurative painters were more affected in some factors than calligraphers. Keywords: Painters, figurative, calligrapher, Carpal tunnel syndrome