Neck, Wrist and Back Pain Among Solid Waste Collectors: Case Study of a Ghanaian Waste Management Company

Abstract

Prevalence of Neck Wrist and Back pain (NWBP) among solid waste collectors (SWCs) of Zoom Lion Company (ZL) is 44.7%, 48.2% and 73.5% respectively, irrespective of pre-existing periodic pains. It was established that 42/340 (12.4%) SWCs of ZL had neck pain before joining ZL, whilst 298/340 (87.6%) developed neck pain after joining ZL (P-value = 0.001). Again, 32/340 (9.4%) had wrist pain before joining ZL, whilst 308/340 (90.6%) developed wrist pain after joining ZL (P-value = 0.000). Finally, SWCs who had back pain before joining ZL were 71/340 (20.9%) whilst 269/340 (79.1%) developed back pain after joining ZL (P-value = 0.000). These outcomes indicate that SWCs are predisposed to such NWBPs. Zoom Lion, needs to conduct periodic health checks of their staff to determine the degree of NWBPs experienced by their workers and help to relieve the workers of the economic burden of managing the pain.

Assessing the exposure of street sweeping and potential risk factors for developing musculoskeletal disorders and related disabilities: a cross-sectional study

“…In the absence of any studies on MSDs among the street sweepers, the results of the present study are comparable with the other studies conducted among the solid waste workers except in the case of knee and ankle disorders 34 11 27 28 This may be because the street sweepers are not engaged in lifting heavy loads continuously or for carrying them for long duration, as a result of which they do not put as much pressure on the knees and ankles as those engaged in solid waste collection. A cross-sectional study conducted in Iran among 217 municipal solid waste workers showed a higher prevalence of the MSDs for lower back (45%), knees (29%), shoulders (24%), upper back (23%) and neck (22%) as compared with the comparison group 5.…”

Prevalence and risk factors of low back disorders among waste collection workers: A systematic review

“…Low back disorders were defined differently in most of the articles; this may be linked to the variability in reported prevalence rates. All reviewed articles reported 12-month prevalence; prevalence rates varied widely from 16% [23] to 74% [29]. The variation in LBD prevalence identified in the present study demonstrates a common issue in LBD research: differences in study design; methodological approach [32]; and LBD case definition.…”

“…The quality of the methodological strategies used may also contribute to the differences in the reported prevalence. A study by Norman et al [29] showed that, cross-sectional studies, self-reported data, and bias in recall can under or overestimate the prevalence of LBD among waste workers. Given the variation in data collection methods, tools, and case definitions, it is not unexpected to see a range of prevalence among the 13 studies Though the included articles focused on a similar occupational group, they did differ in their selection of the study sample, their mode of collecting data, and possibly cultural perceptions of pain across geographic regions.…”

“…Those with the lowest risk of bias tended to be clustered around the central prevalence estimates, ranging from 42% [30] to 49% [14]; it seems likely that higher risk of bias leads to less robust estimates of a single central value, though it is also possible that the various populations truly differed in contexts, exposure to risk factors, and thus in prevalence. Work context likewise did not explain the difference in reported prevalence rates: studies that included informal work forces tended to be clustered centrally [10,12,26,28,30], and those that included only formal sectors spanned the low [23,24] and high [13,29] range of the prevalence estimates.…”

“…Malchaire et al indicated that repetitiveness and posture are considered to be biomechanical risk factors for LBD [42]. Repetitive motion [14,23,24], lifting [7,23,29] force [24], twisting [29], short cycle (high repetition) [29,31], manual handling [29,30], Table 3 Risk of bias assessment of articles included in the review of low back disorder among waste collection workers work duration [13,30,35] smoking [30], physical work load [7,35], vibration [35] and awkward posture during work [13,23,35] were the risk factors suggested in the reviewed articles. However, none of these studies specifically investigated the association between risk factors and LBD.…”