Prevalence, Pattern and Impact of Musculoskeletal Disorders among Sewing Machine Operators in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Objective: Work related musculoskeletal disorders have been described as the most notorious and common cause of severe long term pain and physical disability affecting hundreds of millions of people across the world. The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence, pattern, impact, risk factors and the most frequently affected anatomical parts of the body in musculoskeletal disorders among sewing machine operators.

Materials and Methods: The study design was a cross sectional descriptive survey design. All subjects were evaluated using a 32-item questionnaire including items about demographic and impact of musculoskeletal problems. The intensity of the pain was assessed by visual analogue scale.

Results: A 12-month prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was observed to be 92.0%. The result showed that the most commonly affected body part was the low back (78.6%). The mean number of years of sewing experience of the participants was 10.0 ± 2.5 years with majority, (51, 25.8%) having worked for 1-5 years and 9 (4.7%) participants having just worked for less than a year. The four major job risk factors identified in this study were prolonged sitting (99.4%), sitting on a high chair (76.5%), sitting without back rest (71.5%) and sitting on a low chair (24.0%). The age, frequency of sewing and years of sewing experience on sitting to sew, standing to cut and ironing were significantly associated with prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders.

Conclusion: There was high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among sewing machine operators. Age, frequency of sewing and years of sewing experience could predispose to the occupational risk of musculoskeletal disorders.