Analyzing musculoskeletal risk prevalence among railway track maintainers: an analysis of health risk assessment in India

<i>Objectives.</i> Railway track maintenance is one of the essential tasks for the Indian railway, where millions of workers have musculoskeletal disorders. The main aim of the present investigation is to determine the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). <i>Methods</i>. Nordic modified questionnaire studies and posture analysis were performed by the Ovako working posture analyzing system. Physiological stress assessment was carried out by recording the participants' heart rate and blood pressure. <i>Results</i>. The questionnaire study revealed that most of the railway track maintainers complained that the maximum discomfort (pain) felt was in the lower back region (90.3%) of the body, followed by the hands (76.4%), knees (76.0%), wrists (75.2%) and shoulders (68.2%). There was a significant change in heart rate reserve, net cardiac cost, relative cardiac cost and cardiovascular stress index between the railway track maintainers and controls. <i>Conclusion</i>. This study shows that railway track maintainers are constantly engaged in highly repetitive hand-intensive jobs, and by performing such strenuous jobs for several years suffer from discomfort in the upper and lower back regions of the body followed by a decrease in handgrip strength. All of these factors consequently may lead to the development of WMSDs.