Industrial workers' postures analysis by a new method named "loading on the upper body assessment" in Iran

Abstract

Background: Occupational diseases such as musculoskeletal disorders changed to be one of the most important issues in different workplaces. They could be obvious on various parts of the body. Although researchers can find different sorts of techniques to assess Work Related MusculoSkeletal Disorders (WRDSDs) they look forward to find newer ones that are more strength. Objective: This in this cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study was objected to evaluate posture of workers in a publishing industry by Loading on the Upper Body Assessment (LUBA) as a new method and also Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), to analyze risk factors of WRMSDs in a central province of Iran. Materials and Methods: All workers were included. Gathering data about musculoskeletal disorders was done using NMQ. LUBA considers postures of four body parts including neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist. Finally, data were tested through SPSS Version 20 and by applying Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Kappa agreement tests. Results: NMQ depicted that the most problems were in lumbar with the prevalence of 35.1. One more thing, it was found that postures in the second action level and needed to more studies were in majority results showed the position of posture can predict disorders in this part of the body (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Altogether, upper limbs were not in desirable conditions and need more attention in the form of correction in workstations and manners of doing the tasks. However, it is recommended to develop more studies.