Association of ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders among school teachers

Abstract

Objective: To find the association between ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) among school teachers. Methods: 40 subjects were selected for the study, to assess the prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) with the standardized Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire (NMQ) and evaluate for ergonomics in class and while working on computers/smart phones, and awareness of the same was noted with the help of checklists and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper limb Assessment (RULA) tools. Results: REBA scores revealed that majorly, teachers were at medium risk levels of getting MSDs, with 72.72% of primary teachers, and 75.86% of secondary teachers for tasks performed, whereas RULA scores concluded that 48.27% of secondary teachers and 45.45% of primary teachers were in the medium risk level of getting MSDs. Conclusions: The research revealed an association between ergonomics and the prevalence of MSDs in school teachers, and demonstrated the sites involved in the MSDs.