ISSN:
1432-1246
Keywords:
Orthopaedic diseases
;
Spinal diseases
;
Transport workers
;
Work-related diseases
;
Plant health service's file
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Summary Material handling tasks result in high load on the skeletal system. Long-term employment in transportation jobs may therefore cause a high frequency of orthopaedic diseases, particularly in the spinal region. An epidemiological study was performed on employees from a large company in order to test this hypothesis. The medical history of 249 male transport workers was examined by means of statistical analysis of the orthopaedic diseases documented in the record file of their company's health service. For purposes of comparison, the same data evaluation was performed for an age-matched reference group consisting of 267 persons chosen randomly from among the male employees in the same company. The proportion of persons with orthopaedic diseases amounts to 77.1% among the transport workers and 62.9% among the reference persons. It is consequently 1.22 times higher for the transport workers than for the reference persons (“rate ratio RR” = 1.22). The greatest part of all orthopaedic diseases affects the spine. Within the spine, the lumbar region is the most frequently damaged. Both for the totality of all spinal sections as well as for diseases of particular spinal sections (cervical, thoracic, lumbar spine), the proportion of the transport workers with diseases is higher than that of the reference persons (RR between 1.20 and 1.36). The proportion of persons with spinal diseases increases with age in both groups. There is no observable difference between the groups with regard to the frequency of persons with degenerative diseases. By contrast, the proportion of persons with “lumbar complaints” (e.g. lumbago, lumbalgia, lumbar ischialgia) is higher among the transport workers than among the reference persons (RR = 1.22). Lumbar complaints occur particularly frequently among the transport workers after a short period of employment. Suggestions for special medical care of transport workers in the first years of employment are derived from this.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00381019
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