Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its relation to working posture in Sanandaj hand-woven carpet weavers

Carpet-weaving is one of the important and high risk occupations in Iran that has some ergonomic factors leading to musculoskeletal disorders. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and posture assessment by NMQ and QEC method respectively, in female carpet weavers in Sanandaj. In the present cross-sectional study, 250 female carpet hand-weavers were selected randomly and interviewed. To determine the prevalence of MSDs and assessment of work postures, we used Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and Quick Exposure Check (QEC) respectively. Using SPSS IBM 20 software, data were analyzed by chi-square and independent sample t-test. Prevalence of MSDs in the participants was 80.4 %. The most common complaints were related to low back and shoulders with respective prevalence rates of 52 and 49.6% and the least common complaints were related to elbows and feet with prevalence rates of 20 and 26%, respectively. There was significant relationships between QEC scores and musculoskeletal symptoms prevalence rates in shoulder/arm, wrist/hand and neck (p<0.05). Also, the relationship between the mean work background and daily work time in both groups (with MSDs and none) was significant (p<0.05). It seems that long duration of daily work and repetitive task and maladjustment of the seat height in proportion to weaved carpet height were effective factors leading to the high prevalence of MSDS among participants which was also confirmed by posture assessment results. Timely adjustment of the seat height through designing adjustable seats and following ergonomic principles in workshops might be useful strategies to reduce prevalence of MSDs.