NEW YORK, Apr 28 (Reuters Health) -- One in every four US farmers say they have experienced an episode of prolonged, debilitating back pain during the past year, researchers report.
"As a result of back pain, 38% of males and 30% of females (working on farms) had to make 'major' changes... in their work, while about 10% and 8%, respectively, had to change or stop their work permanently due to back pain," note a team of researchers led by Dr. H. Xiang of Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
The authors surveyed 759 farmers and their spouses working on 458 Colorado farms.
Twenty-six percent of those responding told researchers they had experienced lower back pain lasting more than 1 week at least once during the year previous to the survey. Rates for back pain were similar between men and women, according to the authors.
"In about 45% of the cases (for each sex), back pain was attributed to repeated activities only, such as lifting, pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, or reaching," the researchers report. Thirteen percent of men and 8% of women blamed their back pain on a single incident, such as a sudden twist or fall.
"Farmers whose major income base was dairy products were substantially more likely to report back pain (43%) than farmers who mainly worked field crops (27%)," the authors add.
The findings are published in the April 23rd issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a journal of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In an editorial comment, CDC officials note that one recent survey found that farm workers now rank fifth on the list of occupations most prone to back injury. They speculate that farm work may include stressful body movements linked with back pain "such as (the) repeated or sudden lifting of a heavy object, and chronic exposure to whole body vibration."
SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 1999;48:301-304.
