Effect of Workstation Designed for Sewing, on Neck and Shoulder Muscles of Users

Sewing is one of the occupations where the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders is high. Sewing conditions at the workstation have made tailors face musculoskeletal injuries in various areas of their body, particularly pain in the neck, shoulder, and upper back and even waist. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a workstation designed for tailoring considering the results of previous studies on the neck and shoulder muscles of users by electromyography.

In this interventional analytical study, the activity levels of four superficial neck and shoulder muscles (meridian, anterior deltoid, middle deltoid, posterior deltoid) were Electromyographed on 33 participants (male and female) at two new and custom designed workstations.

There was a significant difference in the amount of muscle activity in the new and existing workstations (P<0.05). But there was no significant difference between the different modes of the new workstation.

All four muscles were less active at the new workstation than the conventional workstation, meaning that the designed workstation was able to reduce neck and shoulder muscle activity during work.