An Observational Study on Postural Awareness and Musculoskeletal Related Pain among Fashion Designers.

Abstract

Introduction: Fashion designers, having a creative mind and long working hours, work in physically demanding environments that involve long periods of sitting, drawing, cutting out clothes, sewing, and operating computer-aided design (CAD) software. Although their profession is aesthetically biased, the physical pressure on their bodies goes unnoticed. Repetitive actions, unfavorable postures, and static postures all significantly contribute to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the neck, shoulders, back, and upper limbs.

Objectives: To evaluate the level of postural awareness in the fashion designing community and musculoskeletal pain among fashion designers in relation to their work habits and posture.

Methods: A personalized questionnaire is design in the google forms and distributed among the fashion designers. The questionnaire contains two parts in which first part consists demographic data and second part consists postural awareness assessment scale (PAS).

Results : :- In this study of 21 fashion designers, 4.8% were men and 95.2% were women, all of whom put in long hours. The questionnaire used to measure postural awareness had a maximum score of 84, with higher scores denoting greater awareness. Only one designer received a score higher than 80, two more than 70, six more than 60, six more than 50, and six more than 40. The remaining designers received scores lower than 40. Overall, 57.85% of designers demonstrated moderate to high postural awareness, indicating that the majority of fashion designers lack a thorough understanding of workplace ergonomics and appropriate posture.

Conclusions: This study concluded that 90.5% of fashion designer experiencing pain while working. The most affected part of the body, lower back (38.1%), neck (23.8%), shoulder (19%), elbow (9.5%), and wrist (9.5%).