Relationship of work posture on symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders of call center agents. [author]: Vincent Paul A. Banta, Christopher John C. Campos, Farideh B. Esmaili, Stanley Nino M. Lanting, Hope Lucky T. Libetario Jonalyn P. Mempin, Ryane Paul A. Racelis, Seychelles L. Ramos, Joy Ann B. Robles, Paolo Jose T. Sagrit, Iries Kristine M. Salem Nikolai Z. Tolentino, Josephus Peter T. Wycoco, Sabrina Loraine C. Yamsuan
- Quezon City, Philippines: FEU-Dr. Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation Institute of Medicine, 2008
- 32pages / 28cm
Includes Appendix
ABSTRACT: Objective: To determine the relationship between Work Posture and Symptoms of Musculoskeletal Disorder on Call Center Agents and more specifically to determine the common locations of symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders on call Center Agents and to determine the risk level on Work Posture of Call Center Agents. Design: This was an analytic, observational, cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: The study was conducted on DELL Call Center Company from December 2007 - January 2008. Instrumentation: The Information Sheet contains general information about the Call Center Agents. The Nordic Questionnaire has a picture with approximate position of parts of the body referred with certain overlaps, where the subjects will decide for themselves in which part they have or have had any trouble. The RULA method uses diagrams of body postures and three scoring tables to provide evaluation of exposure to risk factors. Patients and Methods: Call Center Agents participated on the study, both on technical support section and customer care section. 200 Call center agents were given an information sheet that will be the basis of including or excluding the subjects. Inclusion criteria for the said subjects include employed for at least 12 months, 18-40 yrs old, either male or female. Exclusion of agents includes agents with chronic history musculoskeletal disorder prior to employment up to present, pregnant women, with other job aside from call center, with hereditary, degenerative and progressive musculoskeletal disorder. Sample populations of 105 agents were given the Nordic musculoskeletal Questionnaire to fill up and were assessed by the researchers with their work posture using RULA. Measurement of workplace (cubicle) was taken before assessment of posture was done. Subjects were also given a consent form for legal purposes. Results: Base'd on their response on Nordic Questionnaire, most of the symptoms of MSD are in the neck (68.6%) followed by the shoulder (60%) and the least are on elbows and knees (14.3%). Neck problem mostly affects the work of call center agents (31.4%) and it is also affecting the subjects for the last 7 days (25.7%). Based on RULA results, the posture of all CCA resulted in unacceptable posture, with 80% of the subjects having a final score of 5 and 20% having a final score of 6 whether the subjects are with or without symptoms of MSD. The researchers recoded score 5 as poor and 6 as very poor to get the correlation between posture and symptoms of MSD. The researchers used stratified analysis, older age group (p-value = 0.068), shorter stature (p-value = 0.028), heavier weight (p-value = 0.092) and longer number of working months (p-value = 0.041) are statistically significant. Also, shorter stature has symptoms of MSD with Very Poor Posture (57.1%) as compared to Poor Posture (72.7%), heavier weight group has symptoms of MSD with Very Poor Posture (100%) as compared to Poor Posture (50%) while lighter weight group has symptoms of MSD with Very Poor Posture (57.1%) as compared to Poor Posture (72.7%), and longer number of working months has symptoms of MSD with Very Poor Posture (100%) as compared to Poor Posture (55.6%) are clinically significant. Height, weight and number of working hours have statistical and clinical significance in relation to symptoms of MSD. Conclusion: There is a significant clinical relationship between symptoms of MSD and shorter height, body weight, and, longer number of months. But there is significant statistical relationship of work posture on symptoms of MSD on Call Center Agents who are older, with shorter stature, heavier weight, and with longer number of months. Among these variables, Call Center Agents with shorter stature, heavier weight, and longer number of months working in the call center have clinical and statistical significance in relation to symptoms of MSD. These findings proved that shorter height affects the posture of call center agents. The explanation behind CCA’s weight can be related to the type of work in a call center which is very sedentary, without much physical activity which may result in overweight, obesity, even muscle weakness and muscle tightness. Muscle imbalances will cause MSD on chronic conditions and if no therapeutic intervention were done. This is also related with one of the variables, the months working in. a call center company. The longer the person works as a CCA, the more effects of inactivity occurs and will manifest especially if the person is not involved in any physical activity or exercise has long been known that as the person ages, degenerative changes in the body occur. Therefor as the person ages, the higher the stake that MSD will occur.