Effects of Low Back Pain and Neck Pain on the Health Status of the Porter of Central Market Area of Kolkata

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a common health problem among the workers engaged in manual material handling (MMH). Studies have shown that these workers also suffer from lot of psychological stress also.The objective of the present study was to study the effects of low back pain (LBP) and neck pain on the health status of MMH workers. 210 male MMH workers were randomly selected in the Central Market area of Kolkata. Modified Nordic questionnaire on MMH was performed to assess the prevalence of LBP and neck pain. The SF-12 Short-Form Health Survey questionnaire was performed to assess the physical and mental health. The mean physical composite score (PCS) and the mean mental composite score (MCS) of the subjects were 36.7 (± 9.1) and 46.0 (±9.2) respectively. The PCS of the workers with LBP differed significantly (P<0.05) from those without LBP. PCS and MCS of the subjects with and without neck pain had no significant difference. But the MCS scores differed significantly between the workers with LBP only and workers with neck pain only. Regression analysis showed that LBP significantly affected the PCS (P<0.05).The mean PCS and MCS scores suggest that both the physical and mental health of the workers is poor. LBP was found to significantly affect the physical health while having no effect on the mental health. LBP was found to be a predictor for poor physical health. The effect of neck pain on health status of these MMH workers was found to insignificant.