Prevalence of Riding Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Disability Among Motorcyclists in Pune Region - A Cross-Sectional Study

Motorcycles in India are regarded as popular and convenient means of transport, especially in large tier 2 cities. Factors influencing on rider during riding the motorcycle are assumed to cause Musculoskeletal pain in motorcyclist. Long term exposure to the static postures and deviations from normal posture of body can worsen the existing musculoskeletal problems, leading to more significant pain, stiffness, and potential long-term complications. These types of exposures cause musculoskeletal disorder to a greater extend. There is a very little literature available about musculoskeletal pain and disabilities arising due to it concerned with riding a motorcycle. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the prevalence of Riding Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and disability with respect to type of motorcycle among motorcyclists. 2. To find out the association between intensity of musculoskeletal pain with respect to type of motorcycle 3. To find the Region wise distribution of pain and disability among motorcyclists. METHODOLOGY: To know the prevalence of riding related musculoskeletal disorders and disability among motorcyclists a peer reviewed questionnaire was given individually to the group of motorcyclists in and around Pune. A total of 163 motorcyclists participated which included male and females both. Three types of motorcycle were considered i.e. Sports, cruiser and commuter. Individual responses were collected to analyze the data. RESULTS: Out of 163 participants, 130 i.e. 80% motorcyclists experienced pain and discomfort during their riding sessions and 33 i.e. 20% did not experience. Prevalence of pain and discomfort in motorcyclists was seen highest in cruiser category i.e. 94.3% then in sports category i.e. 90.5% followed by commuter category i.e. 66.6%. For SPORTS and CRUISER Categories P-value of 8.751e-8 and 2.828e-8 found respectively, which is statistically significant as P <0.05. COMMUTER category association is not statistically significant between the intensity of musculoskeletal pain with commuter type of motorcycle as p-value>0.05. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that there is high prevalence of riding related musculoskeletal disorders among motorcyclists. There is significant association found between intensity of musculoskeletal pain and type of motorcycle ridden by motorcyclists i.e. SPORTS and COMMUTER group of motorcycle. Region wise prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was found highest in Upper Back, Lower back, shoulder and neck among all three categories. Keywords: Motorcyclists, Riding related Musculoskeletal disorders, Riding bikes