Background: The aim of the study was to assess the occurrence of low back pain (LBP) in relation to work performance among employees at the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute. Low back pain is the pain limited to the region between the lower margins of the last rib and the gluteal folds, regardless of the presence or absence of leg pain. Methodology: The study adopts a descriptive cross sectional study design and simple random as well as convenience sampling technique was used to obtain results from study participants. The research findings were obtained through self-administered questionnaires as well as face to face interviews. Results: Majority of respondents in this study are nurses, constituting 40% of the total. Hence, the leading group in this study are nurses. However, in drawing experience of Low back pain among employees, 117 (64.3%) experienced low back pain in their life time. On cross tabulation between age group and experience, it was found that the age group ranging from 30 to 35 (29.1%) are mostly affected. The research study also revealed that among respondents with low back pain, nurses are the leading group (46.1 %) followed by health attendants and administrators (21.3% and 12.8% respectively). In this study Low back pain is reported to be attributed to long hours of standing and sitting, lifting, as well as stressful working hours (30.8%, 26.9% and 20.0% respectively). Further analysis revealed that bending to lift patients from the bed or items from floor level, lifting style, sitting style are also main contributors to low back pain. Contributing to lower back pain in relation to sitting, bending and lifting is the fact that staff has not had requisite training on lifting and handling, or the proper recommended positions and height when sitting at the desk, which include monitor positioning for those using computers. Conclusion and Recommendation: This study recommends that there should be the mandatory provision of health education on how to maintain posture as this is vital in contributing to reduce occurrences of low back pain. Proper manual lifting and handling techniques should be taught, with the appropriate and necessary equipment provided to properly carry out the tasks required in the workplace. This is with the aim of reducing manual work and promoting correct body positioning with the overall result of reducing lower back pain. Regular and appropriate exercise is also recommended.

A Dissertation Submitted to Mzumbe University Dar es Salaam Campus, Faculty of Business Studies for the Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for Award of the Master degree of Human Resource Management of Mzumbe of Dar es Salaam University 2014