Musculoskeletal disorders among male sewing machine operators in shoemaking

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Abstract
Research on the relationship between the operation of sewing machines and the appearance of musculoskeletal disorders has been conducted mainly among women working in garment or textile production, in developed countries; little is known about male sewing machine operators in other industries, in less developed countries. This study involved 143 Mexican men operating sewing machines in eight shoe factories; 132 of them operated flat-type machines, 11 column-type machines. When studied, the operators had been in this task for at least one year. The study aimed to identify the body regions more liable to develop musculoskeletal disorders and the rates both of appearance of such troubles and of sick leave resulting from them. A questionnaire was given to each worker, asking for their work history, the presence of musculoskeletal disorders at the time of the inquiry, and the frequency of sick leave during the previous 12 months; additionally, a number of workers were filmed on video and this material was then used to identify the body regions undergoing the major work demands. 47·5% of the subjects declared current musculoskeletal disorders; a statistical difference was found when the two groups were considered separately. Low back pain was the most frequent at a rate of 18·2% for both groups; the shoulder was a site of complaint for 14% of the subjects, being three times more frequent among column-machine operators; the back as a whole was mentioned also by 14% of the subjects, all of them flat-machine operators; 4·9% of the subjects complained of neck pain and again none of the column-machine operators was affected. Only one subject had taken sick leave because of musculoskeletal problems. The body regions affected were those expected from the analysis of the video recordings and were consistent with those reported for occupations involving similar postures and movements. The rates of musculoskeletal complaint found in this study are lower than those reported by other authors who have studied sewing machine operators; taking sick leave is a very rare choice for the workers studied.