Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

In India, floriculture is viewed as highly developing industry. Though the flower cultivation has been in practice in India since times immemorial but the floriculture has flourished in to a viable occupation only in recent years. Earlier flower cultivation was considered as a hobby or great past time of rich people or flower lovers but now it has unwrapped a different perspective in agriculture trade i.e. commercial floriculture which is due to steady increase in demand of flowers. It has also found that there is an intensive involvement of women in this activity which may lead to postural and musculoskeletal disorders due to physical workload. Therefore the present study was conducted with the objective to identify the various postural and musculoskeletal disorders experienced by female workers engaged in flower cultivation. Musculoskeletal Disorders or MSDs are injuries and disorders that affect the human body’s movement or musculoskeletal system. A total of 120 female workers were selected as respondents randomly. Therefore, ergonomic analysis of postural and musculoskeletal disorders faced by respondents while performing various activities during flower cultivation were assessed using three subjective scales i.e. Assessment of musculoskeletal problems of respondents (Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire), Postural discomfort experienced by respondents by using rating of perceived exertion scale Varghese et al. (1994) and Postural discomfort experienced by respondents by using Corlett and Bishop Scale (1976). The results revealed that the lower back pain (92.5%) was the main musculoskeletal problem as determined by standardized Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. According to Postural discomfort experienced by respondents by using rating of perceived exertion scale Varghese et al. (1994) and Corlett and Bishop Scale (1976) respondents reported more pain in lower back and neck respectively. In order to reduce these postural and musculoskeletal disorders remedial measures were also suggested.