The effect of postures on musculoskeletal disorders in work places

Abstract

Abstract Background: Nowadays, Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are the most common problems in the workplaces. Non-ergonomic workstation and job design lead the workers to expose to various kinds of risk factors that cause MSDs. In this study, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ) were used for assessing the risk of cause musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) at a TV manufacturing company. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 50 workers were selected randomly from assembly lines workers. Then RULA method was performed and NMQ was completed for workers too. Jobs were categorized into two parts of safe and unsafe jobs and musculoskeletal disorders risk factors were assessed. Results: According to RULA scoring method, for right hand, 46% of cases were at grade 2, 52% of cases were at grade 3 and only 2% of cases were at grade 4. Regarding left hand 44% of cases were at grade 2, 54% of cases were at grade 3 and 2% of cases were at grade 2. Also, no job was at grade 1and only in APT 25% of cases were in grade 4 for both hands. Results from NMQ have also showed that most prevalent disorders were among waist & shoulder (48%), neck (28%) and back (24%) respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that the mentioned variables had no relation with musculoskeletal disorders. This, perhaps, is the result of lower age and their low experience of the workers as well as the interference of some extraneous variables.