Investigation of musculoskeletal symptoms and associated risk factors in the HORECA sector

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and quantify the associated risk of MSDs development among workers in two sections of a Portuguese enterprise integrated in the HORECA sector. Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) was the method used to quantify the risk associated to MSDs development. The Chi-square test and Cramer’s V coefficient were used to assess associations between variables (demographic/work-related characteristics) and the prevalence of complaints (in each body region assessed) or the pain level of the working situation. Considering the RULA results, the risk for the development of MSDs is present in all tasks and in both assessed sections suggesting that investigation and adjustments in the work situation are relevant. In general, there were no statistically significant associations between variables (demographic/work-related characteristics) and the prevalence of complains (in each body region assessed) or the pain level of the working situation.