Risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and postural abnormalities in professional dulcimer and violin players comparing to non-musicians

String musicians have the highest number of musculoskeletal disorders among different groups of musicians. Few studies have investigated the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and postural abnormalities in these people comparing to non-musicians. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and postural abnormalities in professional dulcimer and violin players and to compare them to non-musicians. This is a descriptive comparative study. Seventy professional male dulcimer and violin players aged 18 to 40 years, and 35 male non-musicians were participated in this study. Flexible ruler and forward head goniometer were used to measure kyphosis, lordosis and forward head posture. Scoliosis were assessed with photogrammetry. Risk of musculoskeletal disorders for upper limb assessed using photogrammetry and RULA method. For the statistical analysis, the Shapiro-Wilk and U Mann-Whitney tests were used in SPSS version22 with the significance level of 0.05. The results showed that risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders, kyphosis, lordosis, forward head posture and scoliosis were significantly higher in dulcimer players comparing to non-musicians. In violin players, the risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders, kyphosis, lordosis and forward head posture were significantly higher comparing to non-musicians as well, but no significant difference were in their scoliosis. According to the findings of the study, it can be said that the dulcimer and violin players are more vulnerable to work related musculoskeletal disorders and postural abnormalities compared to non-musicians and the corrective strategies are suggested for these disorders.