Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in single and multiple body regions and effects of perceived risk of injury among manual handling workers

Study Design. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate 217 male workers from the Hong Kong with varied levels of manual lifting experience. Objectives. To determine whether musculoskeletal symptoms are prevalent in different and multiple body regions among manual handling workers, and to determine whether a simple index (i.e., perceived risk of lifting injury) evaluated by the worker is significantly associated with musculoskeletal outcomes in single and multiple body regions. Summary of Background Data. Little research has been conducted to investigate the effect of manual lifting tasks on musculoskeletal symptoms in different and multiple body regions. Methods. A structured interview that followed a set of standardized questionnaires was administered to each worker by the same investigator. The workers were asked to detail their demographic characteristics, physical fitness level, years of experience in manual lifting, current working condition, and musculoskeletal symptom survey. Results. Lower back symptoms were the most frequent among manual handling workers, followed by the shoulders, then the upper back, hips-upper legs, and neck. Finger symptoms had the lowest prevalence values. Musculoskeletal symptoms for multiple body parts (two or more) were more prevalent (64% of all workers) than those for single body regions (19%). Approximately 85% of lower back symptoms were associated with disorders in other body regions. Multivariate analyses indicated that the effects of perceived risk were significant for eight body regions, and that age was significant for three of them. Perceived risk of lifting injury also was significant for multiple body regions. Conclusions. Musculoskeletal symptoms are prevalent in single and multiple body regions among manual handling workers. The perceived risk of injury is significantly associated with musculoskeletal symptoms in eight body regions.