Distúrbios osteomusculares nas quebradeiras de coco babaçu no Estado do Maranhão

Abstract

Introduction: The health of rural workers is conditioned by social, economic, technological and organizational factors related to the profile of production and consumption. Besides physical, chemical, biological, mechanical and ergonomic risks, the babassu coconut breakers show postural changes that affect the vertebral column and may cause pain in this body segment and compromise the entire comfort of these women. Aim: To evaluate the rural work of the babassu coconut breakers through the ergonomic effect of spinal curvature in the community of the city of Lima Campos - Maranhão. Method: It is a quantitative and cross-sectional study of 30 babassu-coconut-breaker women that live in São José dos Mouras community, in the city of Lima Campos, state of Maranhão. In order to collect the data, it has been used: identification form, Computerized Biophotogrammetry and the Nordic Musculosketal Questionnaire. The data has been analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The women who took part in the studies have shown 93, 3 % pain in the region of the column and it has been evident that the greater the age of the participants, the smaller the angle of the vertebral line (p=0.015) and the smaller the gap angle of the shoulders (p=0,026). There has also been a difference regarding education, presenting average vertebral line angle with p=0.025 and shoulder deviation angle with p=0.003. Regarding the pain, significant values have been seen in the shoulders divert angle, kyphosis angles and Lordosis angle (p<0.05). As for the marital status, married participants or widowed ones have shown an average value of kyphosis angle smaller than the single ones (p=0,041), taking into consideration that the higher the body mass index values, the lower the kyphosis angle values (p=0.042). Conclusion: The postural evaluation in these rural-worker women have shown that the pain has been prevalent in the regions of paraspinal and have shown an association between symptoms and postural changes.