The effect of postural angles on Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) among Sewing Machine Operators (SMOs) / 'Ainur Fathena Salbiah Abd Aziz

Introduction: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a major cause of work related disabilities and injuries in the developed and developing countries. Several studies have reported that musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are more common among women than among men. Several studies have found that a high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms is neck and shoulder among sewing machine operators (SMOs). Sewing machine operation includes sew, seam, alter or repair wearing apparel. Objectives: The objectives of this study are to identify the prevalence of WMSDs among participants, to measure the participants' postural angles whilst performing their tasks, to determine the association between postural angles whilst performing their tasks and WMSDs among participants and to calculate the risk of getting WMSDs using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA). Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 45 SMOs at GIATMARA in Kuala Selangor. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were only SMOs who are registered at GIA TMARA, literate person with age range between 15 to 50 years old with 8 hours of class session were involved in this study and SMOs who are experienced any accident, or have spinal-abnormalities, do part time jobs after class session were excluded to take part in this study respectively. Results: The most prevalence of WMSDs was neck and followed by shoulder, wrist/hand and elbow. The mean of RULA score for left and right were 4.69 and 4.84 respectively. There were no significant association between postural angles and WMSDs among SMOs. Conclusion: There was no significant association between postural angles whilst performing their tasks and WMSDs among SMOs.