Prevalence of work-related repetitive stress injuries with reference to working posture among sewing machine operators in a Nigerian community

Abstract

The prevalence of work-related repetitive stress injury with reference to working posture of sewing machine operators in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria was investigated. A cross sectional descriptive survey was carried out among 105 (72 female and 33 male) sewing machine operators within Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos state, Nigeria using two standard questionnaires which captured information on WRSI and a Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) scale was used to assess the working posture of the participants. The 12-month prevalence of WRSI of the low back, neck, hand and shoulder of the participants in this study was observed to be 35.2%, 12.4%, 5.8% and 3.8%, respectively. There was a significant association between age (p=.008), gender (p=.0047) and low back WRSI. There was also a significant association (p<0.05) between WRSI and working posture of the participants. This study showed that low back pain was the most prevalent work-related repetitive stress injury among sewing machine operators in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State. Working posture was associated with WRSI.

Keywords: Occupational health, Working Posture, Risk Factors, Sewing machine

Afr. J. Biomed. Res. Vol. 22 (January, 2019); 19- 25