Abstract
BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal disorder is one of the major health hazards among the rice farmers. Both men and women rice farmers have been shown to experience elevated risks of prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD).
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the different ergonomic risk factors associated with rice farming identify potential gender differences and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among the rice farmers.
PARTICIPANTS: Rice farmers – 110 men and 110 women were selected from the villages of West Bengal, India.
METHODS: Modified Nordic Questionnaires were administered to assess the prevalence of MSDs. Detailed posture analysis was performed along with the administration of the Body-part Discomfort Scale. Objective measurements of physiological parameters and lung function values were also recorded.
RESULTS: From this study it was revealed that the most subjects (99%) suffered discomfort at different parts of the body especially at low back (93.8%), shoulder (60.9%), hand (53.6%) and knee (80.9%) due to awkward posture (99%) and excessive repetitive task (95%) for a prolonged period of time. Both group of rice farmers suffered maximum discomfort feeling during digging (87.7%), sowing seeds (82.7%), harvesting (90.9%) and carrying crops (99%) activities. The farmers also suffered from severe physiological and thermal stress which hampered their other daily activities.
CONCLUSIONS: The study conclude that women farmers felt significantly (p< 0.001) higher discomfort feeling than men rice farmers due to perform numerous household activities which further enhanced their discomfort feeling in their different body parts.