Prevalence And Risk Factors Associated with Musculoskeletal Discomfort among Vegetable Street Vendors

Abstract

Background: The common health problem among workers is musculoskeletal disorders due to intensive manual
work(1). Pain, stiffness, swelling are the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders(1)..High energy expenditures,
heavy spinal loading during lifting and carrying, highly repetitive movements and crawling, stooping and
other difficult work postures are require at field work and for material handling(14).
Aim: To determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with musculoskeletal discomfort among vegetable
street vendors.
Objectives: To find out prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort in vegetable street vendors by using Nordic
Musculoskeletal questionnaire.
To find out correlation between personal factors, working factors and musculoskeletal discomfort.
Materials and methodology: 125 Vegetable vendors were participated in this study. Age range between 18-60
years. Subjects having more than 5 years of experience are included.They were given consent form ,screening
form and Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire and the area of pain was marked by them on scale. The data was
taken on excel sheet and data analysis was done then results were calculated.
Result: The prevalence of 69.60% was obtained in vegetable street vendors. The most body part involved are
lower back 44.80% , ankle/feet 32% ,the least affected body parts are elbows and wrist/hands. The musculoskeletal
discomfort is positively associated with gender, age and not associated with other factors such as
BMI, work experience, working hours/day,working days/week, excessive repetition,sitting for long period at
work,etc.
Conclusion: According to the present study there is a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among vegetable
street vendors in latur city. The commonly affected body region are lower back, ankle/feet and knees.