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

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.