Dairy Farm Worker Exposure to Awkward Knee Posture During Milking and Feeding Tasks

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders are common among agricultural workers, particularly among dairy farm workers. Specifically, dairy farm workers have been identified as being at risk for knee osteoarthritis. Physical risk factors that may contribute to knee osteoarthritis include awkward postures of the knee, such as kneeling or squatting. The purpose of this study was to quantify exposure to awkward knee posture among dairy farm workers during milking and feeding tasks in two common types of milking facilities (stanchion and parlor). Twenty-three dairy farm workers performed milking and feeding tasks; 11 worked in a stanchion milking facility, and 12 worked in a parlor milking facility. An electrogoniometer was used to measure knee flexion during 30 min of the milking and feeding tasks. Milking in a stanchion facility results in a greater duration of exposure to awkward posture of the knee compared with milking in a parlor facility. Specifically, the percentage of time in ⩾110° knee flexion was significantly greater in the stanchion facility (X = 17.7; SE 4.2) than in the parlor facility (X = 0.05; SE 0.04; p ⩽ 0.05). Similar results were observed with other categories of awkward knee posture in both milking and feeding tasks. This study supports previous findings that working in stanchion milking facility results in greater exposure to awkward knee posture compared with working in a parlor milking facility.