Postural Discomfort and Musculoskeletal Disorders among the Agricultural Workers in Faizabad District

Mohini Mohini,U.V Kiran,Santoshi Kumari,Vishal Sharma

doi:10.18311/jeoh/2021/28752

Abstract

Background: Farming has been considered a physically demanding and associated with high risk occupation for musculoskeletal disorders. Agricultural workers have to adapt different postures while working in the fields, e.g. standing, bending, sitting, kneeling, raising hand, etc. They work for long duration in awkward postures, due to which they have to face a lot of postural discomforts. They go through a lot of physical hazards, and sometimes they have to face severe pain. Aim: The present study was conducted to find out the musculoskeletal disorders and postural discomfort among the agricultural workers while working in the fields. Materials and Methods: Present study was conducted on 150 agricultural workers. The sample was randomly selected in the Balramau area of Faizabad district. A self-structured interview schedule and the postural discomfort scale developed by Corlett and Bishop in (1976) were used for data collection. Result: The study revealed that maximum pain was felt in the upper back, upper arms, mid-back, lower arms, lower back, and buttocks. Female agricultural workers felt more pain as compared to male agricultural workers. Conclusion: Agricultural workers face lot of pain in different body parts. Proper training program and information about musculoskeletal disorders symptoms should be given to agricultural workers so that they can get help in identifying the symptoms. Training programmers to agricultural workers in adopting right postures to minimise the stress also need to be conducted.

Highlights

Agriculture is one of the most risky sectors within the working world and farmworkers are exposed to a variety of workrelated factors, which may affect their protection and health[1]
The age group (20-30 years) proportion of male and female agricultural workers were 22.9% and 13.1% respectively. 20.2% of the male agricultural workers were in the age group of [30-40] while 25% of the female agricultural workers were in the age group of [30-40] years (Table 1)
The credit goes to the agricultural workers who work hard day and night in the sun, rain, and cold sometimes

Summary

Introduction

Agriculture is one of the most risky sectors within the working world and farmworkers are exposed to a variety of workrelated factors, which may affect their protection and health[1]. Farming could be a physically hard work and this places farmworkers at possible risk of musculoskeletal disorders like Osteoarthritis of the hip and knee, Low Back Pain, neck and upper limb complaints, and Hand–Arm Vibration Syndrome[3]. MSD’s are defined as a group of disorders that affect the musculoskeletal system including the nerves, tendons, muscles, and supporting structures like intervertebral discs[6]. Farming has been considered a physically demanding and associated with high risk occupation for musculoskeletal disorders. They work for long duration in awkward postures, due to which they have to face a lot of postural discomforts They go through a lot of physical hazards, and sometimes they have to face severe pain. Aim: The present study was conducted to find out the musculoskeletal disorders and postural discomfort among the agricultural workers while working in the fields. Training programmers to agricultural workers in adopting right postures to minimise the stress need to be conducted

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion