MUSCULOSKELETAL SYMPTOMS AMONG SEWING-MACHINE OPERATORS

Objectives A longitudinal study was conducted to describe the prevalen ces and development of musculoskeletal symptoms among sewing machine o perators in relation to age and exposure and among former sewing machi ne operators who changed exposure by changing occupation. Methods Musc uloskeletal symptoms were assessed among 327 sewing machine operators in 1985 with the use of the standardized Nordic questionnaire. A follo w-up study in 1991 showed that approximately one-third was still worki ng as a sewing machine operator, one-third had changed occupation, and the rest were out of employment. The exposure was assessed by a quest ionnaire regarding the type of machine being operated, work organizati on, workplace design, units produced per day, and payment system. Resu lts High prevalences of musculoskeletal symptoms of the neck and shoul ders were found, with some associations to exposure variables such as efficiency. Initially symptom-free sewing machine operators were not a t a higher risk of developing symptoms when they continued sewing duri ng the six-year follow-up when compared with those who changed to othe r employment. However, symptomatic sewing machine operators who quit s ewing were much more likely to be relieved of their symptoms than were symptomatic operators who continued sewing, odds ratio 3.26 [95% conf idence interval (95% CI) 1.38-7.72] for 12-month symptoms and odds rat io 3.90 (95% CI 1.28-11.90) for 7-day symptoms. This trend also applie d to long-lasting symptoms. Conclusions The results demonstrate that, for many sewing machine operators, neck and shoulder symptoms are reve rsible and may be influenced by reallocation to other worktasks.