Prevalence of neck pain among female sewing workers due to bad posture in garment factories of Kurunegala

Neck pain is a major public health problem with considerable expenditure for individuals and the society. Therefore, prevention is imperative. Neck and arm symptoms have many causes and risk factors for developing pain can be physical, psychological, social or personal. This study was conducted to find out the prevalence of neck pain among female sewing workers due to bad posture in garment factories of Kurunegala district. Two hundred and twenty seven subjects from randomly selected five garment factories participated in this study. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. Anthropometric measurements and cervical goniometric measurements in working position were obtained. This study showed a point prevalence of 39.64% for the neck pain in sewing workers. There was a significant association between neck angle and neck pain at 0.05 significance level. The neck angle in working position was graded into three. Grade one (0-100) was the best, Grade two (11⁰-25⁰) was good and Grade three (>250) higher than the average. There was an estimated risk of getting neck pain in Grade two (Odds ratio-0.23) and Grade three (Odds ratio-1.22) neck angles than in grade one. There were three grades of chair heights used by the workers, Grade one was average, Grade two was higher than average and Grade three was lower than average. There was a significant association between chair height Grade two (Odds ratio-0.20) and neck pain. Present study clearly shows that the neck pain was commonly seen among female sewing workers with grade two and grade three neck angles in working position and grade two chair height rather than other variables (age, BMI, height, weight, table height, disability index, tiredness level). Further studies with a larger sample size across the island will be useful to confirm same. Relaxation exercises and strengthening exercises should be recommended to all female workers with concern of neck pain to improve their symptoms and others for prevention of potential future neck disorders.