Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders among Manual Workers in Railway Workshops Lahore

Our study aims to find the prevalence of the musculoskeletal disorder among manual workers of the railway. Manual workers in our study were welders, helpers, painters, blacksmiths, coachbuilders and manual machine handlers working for a year in railway. It is an observational study with a sample sizeof 300 male manual workers of Pakistan railway, Lahore. Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorderin the last 12 months was determined using the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. 96% of manual workers reported musculoskeletal disorders in at least 1 body region in the previous 12 months. The most prevalent areas were lower back (71.3%), shoulders (50.7%), knees (48%) and upper back (41.3%). Other areas had following prevalence rate elbows (16%), hips (11.7%), ankles (11%), neck (7.7%) and wrist and hands (3.3%). This study concludes high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among manual workers of the Lahore railway that can cause further morbidities and functional limitations.