A group of Olentangy High School students have been working over the past year to raise awareness of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) as part of a HOSA-Future Health Professionals competition.

The four students — Sreeja Kommera, Deepthisri Paruchuri, Divyasree Paruchuri and Harshi Pushparaj — are juniors who have been working on the project as part of a competition for HOSA, an international student-led organization that “actively promotes career opportunities in the health industry” and provides leadership development, motivation, and recognition for students interested in pursuing careers in health care, according to its website.

Pushparaj said the team selected MSDs after looking at “various issues that were underfunded within our local community as well as on a broader national scale.”

“Having personal connections to the disorders, a topic that truly stood out to us was musculoskeletal disorders,” Pushparaj said. “We decided to move forward with this topic since many family friends suffer from these disorders and struggle daily. Along with this, we learned basic knowledge about the disorder in our advanced placement biology class, which piqued our interest. Knowing that this is a common disorder that affects the general population yet is not widely funded, we were persuaded to focus on this topic.”

Deepthisri said the team’s four goals for the project were to education the community, fundraise to support local initiatives, organize inclusive community events, and establish collaborations with globally recognized organizations. To accomplish these goals, team members educated themselves by conducting interviews with medical professionals as well as by observing and volunteering at Dublin Methodist Hospital.

Deepthisri said that Divyasree contacted an organization and the MORE Foundation to collaborate on projects aimed at preventing MSDs.

“Local reach-outs to spread awareness and to work with our partnerships were run by all of us in which we had emailed care centers and workplaces to be able to work on ergonomic solutions,” Deepthisri said. “We were also able to hold a Shoe Drive through the MORE Foundation. We all also had a bake sale within our school in which the money received was done for the Wheelchair Cause, which is an initiative to give local facilities these wheelchairs. To spread awareness, we also posted much of our cause on social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Spotify. In the end, we were all able to reach out to many different communities and organizations to spread our message about musculoskeletal disorders.”

Divyasree said raising awareness of MSDs has been “really interesting.”

“A deeper analysis of MSDs has deepened my understanding of their impact and working collaboratively with my team to expand awareness has added some fulfillment,” Divyasree said. “What made the project interesting was seeing a tangible impact in our community – individuals engaging with our products, starting conversations, and seeking more information.”

Divyasree said the collaborative aspect of the project “was key.”

“Working with various partnership members enhanced its effectiveness, transforming musculoskeletal health into a collaborative effort to deliver a knowledgeable, compassionate and active community,” Divyasree said.

Looking ahead, Kommera said the team has started a podcast that will release episodes that include expert guests and said their social media pages will remain active. Kommera added the team is planning several fundraising events as well as a MSDs support walk in the spring to “bring the community together and raise awareness on the issue.”

We will continue collaborating with organizations and professionals around us to keep enhancing our knowledge,” Kommera said.

More information about the team can be found at @stayaware.hosa on Instagram and other platforms.

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.