Evaluation of Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Effect of Ergonomic Interventions on Pain Alleviation and Work Satisfaction among Food Factory Workers

musculoskeletal disorders is one of the most common occupational injuries in the workers of manufacturing industries, one of which is one of the 10 injuries that lead to absenteeism. therefore, the present study examines the musculoskeletal disorders due to work and the effect of interventions on pain improvement and its relationship with job satisfaction of workers factory workers.

In this quasi-experimental study, the statistical sample was 32 individuals including two control(n=16) and experimental(n=16) groups. The Nordic questionnaire was to identify work-related musculoskeletal disorders exposure, Quick Exposure checklist(QEC) method to evaluate risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders, Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) index to determine the severity of musculoskeletal pain, and Minnesota questionnaire to assess work satisfaction level. Also, the frequency level was used to evaluate musculoskeletal-disorders prevalence, and the statistical dependent and independent t-tests were completed to determine the effect of ergonomic interventions on pain and work satisfaction.

The lumbar(63.39 percent), the knee(58.28 percent), the wrist(33.33 percent) and the neck (30.71 percent) areas were the highest prevalence for musculoskeletal disorders. Also, the results of statistical paired t-test showed that after 8 weeks of ergonomic interventions, the pain in the lumbar(P=0.008) and knee(P=0.002) areas significantly decrease and the work satisfaction significantly increases(P=0.001). In addition, a negative significant relation between work satisfaction and musculoskeletal disorders was observed(P=0.001).

The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders has a negative relation with work satisfaction. Also, ergonomic interventions have positive effects on decreasing the pain of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and increasing the work satisfaction among workers