Prevalence of epicondylitis, rotator cuff syndrome, and low back pain in latino poultry workers and manual laborers

Abstract

Epicondylitis, rotator cuff syndrome, and low back pain are common in immigrant Latino workers, and may negatively impact long-term health and contribute to occupational health disparities.

Musculoskeletal and neurological injuries associated with work organization among immigrant latino women manual workers in North Carolina

“…The proportion of those diagnosed with these musculoskeletal injuries was similar to the proportion to the total sample of participants in the larger study that included men as well as women [Cartwright et al, 2012;Rosenbaum et al, 2013]. The prevalence for epicondylitis and CTS were similar to that reported in the literature for other working populations.…”

“…Data for this analysis are from a study comparing Latino poultry processing workers occupational injuries with those among other Latino manual workers [Arcury et al, 2012a;Cartwright et al, 2012;Pichardo-Geisinger et al, 2013;Rosenbaum et al, 2013]. Data were collected from 2009 to 2011.…”

“…Outcome measures included physician diagnosed epicondylitis, rotator cuff syndrome, back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome [Cartwright et al, 2012;Rosenbaum et al, 2013]. Epicondylitis was defined as self-reported pain at either epicondyle area on 2 or more days in the previous month and one of the following on exam: presence of pain at the lateral epicondyle with resisted active wrist extension, pain at the medial epicondyle with resisted active wrist flexion, or tenderness to palpation over the medial and lateral epicondyle regions physical exam [Werner et al, 2005].…”

Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Relationship to Ethnicity

“…In this sense, Schulz et al [5] describes that the back symptoms and wrist/ hand symptoms were reported by over 35% of Latino workers. In the same way, Rosenbaum et al [6] identiies that upper body musculoskeletal and low back pain are common in immigrant Latino workers and may negatively impact long-term health and contribute to occupational health disparities. Xiao et al [8] and Cartwright et al [9] describe the Latino population as a vulnerable group for MSDs.…”

“…MSDs have been extensively studied in several countries; however, few studies have been carried out so as to investigate the relationship between MSDs and ethnicity [4][5][6][7][8][9].…”