Assessment of Body Discomfort among Gardeners

Many body parts can be affected during work. The back is the most common, followed by the shoulders, neck, elbow, hands and wrists. The human body is an amazing machine. It can do a huge variety of difficult, complex and unique physical tasks. However, the human body is also limited in what it can do. Pains and strains/MSDs occur where the demands of the job exceed the capabilities of the person doing the job. Each person in a workplace is unique. The main aim of the present study is to assess the MSD related problem of the gardeners. This cross sectional research study was conducted on 120 sample inclusive 30 gardeners from each park by using multistage random sampling. Data were collected through interview method by using Nordic Musculo-skeletal Questionnaire (developed by Dickinson et al., 1992). The results showed that the large number of gardeners were literate. Consequently, they suffered from discomfort in different parts of their body specifically in leg, lower arms, upper arms, neck and shoulder, which mainly prevented them from continuing their work. It was concluded that MSD among the gardeners might be related to the stressful work, proper work-rest schedules and awareness programme may be helpful for reducing the MSD and proper handling of hand tools.