Abstract

Background: Umrah is an important religious event among Muslims, where a lot of elderly Muslims perform Umrah every year. Musculoskeletal pain is one of the most common clinical symptoms reported among different age groups, especially in elderly individuals, which affect their daily physical activities. The aim of the current study was to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in the Algerian pilgrims while performing Umrah.
Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 419 Algerian pilgrim participants during the period from August 24-28, 2017.
Results: The mean age of 419 Algerian pilgrim participants was 55.7±13.7 (mean±SD). The age of the majority of participants 109 (26%) was between 41 and 50 years, followed by 100 (23.9%) with 51–60 years and a minor number of participants were with 55 years of age (13.1%) and very less of them were with 40 years of age. The study had a higher number of males 376 (89.7%) than females 43 (10.3%). Among the total participants in the study, 25.5% reported ankles/feet pain and this did not prevent them from performing Umrah. Furthermore, 93 (22.2%) of them reported lower back pain and this prevented 1 (0.2%) of the participants from performing Umrah. There was a significant relationship between ex-smokers and pain (p-value=0.008). Statistically significant relationship also was found between co-morbidities and pain (p

Key words: Musculoskeletal pain, Hajj, Umrah, physical activity.