Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among cashew factory workers

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are impairments of the bodily structures, such as muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, nerves, or the localized blood circulation system, which are caused or aggravated primarily by the performance of work and by the effects of the immediate environment in which work is carried out. Types of work in the cashew factory include cutting, peeling, grading, packing, and boiling. All these activities have risk factors for the musculoskeletal disorders, which include repetition, contact stress, forceful contraction, awkward postures, as well as sustained positions. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to find out the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among cashew factory workers. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 246 cashew factory workers, working in a randomly selected factory of a selected locality in Karkala taluk of Udupi district, Karnataka. Participants' name, age, gender, literacy level, income, type of work, duration of employment, hours of work per day, hand dominance, pain and discomfort status were obtained by structured interview. A total of 246 cashew factory workers participated in the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 14. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the data. Around 28.5% (n = 70) reported pain, whereas 71.5% (n = 176) of workers did not report pain. The largest number of workers (n = 22; 32.4%) complained of pain in the knee, followed by back (n = 21; 30.9%) and then shoulder (n = 8; 11.8%). Seventy percent of the workers who reported pain were having more than 5 years of work experience. A 68.6% (n = 48) of the workers who reported pain were in the cutting category, followed by the grading (17%; n = 12), boiling (8.6%; n = 6), and peeling (5.7%; n = 4) categories. Prevalence of pain and discomfort among workers was 28.5%, which is a not ignorable and has to be addressed. Self-reported pain and discomfort were more prevalent in knee, followed by back and then shoulder.