Abstract
Hazards of rice farming in the Philippines are greatly understudied despite its increased risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders due to its heavy reliance on manual methods. This study aims to examine the presence of WMSD symptoms in Filipino farmers and assess the level of risk associated to the farming activities through postural analysis. Fifteen (15) farmers were interviewed using a revised Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) was used to assess the postures when carrying out farming tasks. Results of the interview showed that most farmers perceive pain in the shoulders (86.67%) and hips (73.33%) during the last 12 months, in the upper back (33.33%), and wrist/hand (26.67%) in the last 7 days. REBA scores of the postures performed by farmers ranged from medium to very high risk, indicating immediate action is necessary. Results also showed that there exists high correlation between REBA scores and perceived body pain.
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Acknowledgements
The researchers would like to express their gratitude towards: Mayor Ivy Mendez-Coronel of San Miguel, Bulacan for her full-fledged support for the study and the team; San Miguel Agricultural Head Norma for her invaluable help in assisting the group in any and all ways possible; Rodolfo Paraon Jr. for his cooperation and allowing the researchers to observe the tasks in his farm and interview his farmers; to all the farmers who participated in the study. This study would not have been made possible without them.
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Sandoval, S., Roco, R.A., Jarque, K.M., Custodio, B. (2019). A Postural Analysis of Rice Farming in San Miguel, Bulacan. In: Goossens, R. (eds) Advances in Social and Occupational Ergonomics. AHFE 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 792. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94000-7_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94000-7_18
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