Musculoskeletal injury symptoms among hired Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina

Background Although children 10–17 years can be hired to work in agriculture, little research has addressed possible musculoskeletal injuries. Children may be at particular risk for these injuries because of the repetitive and load bearing nature of work tasks. Existing research relies on child work...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of industrial medicine 2021-07, Vol.64 (7), p.620-628
Main Authors: Quandt, Sara A., Arnold, Taylor J., Talton, Jennifer W., Miles, Christopher M., Mora, Dana C., Arcury, Thomas A., Daniel, Stephanie S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
agricultural health
Agricultural research
Agriculture
Ankle
Back injuries
Child
Child Labor
Children
Children & youth
Farmers
Farmworkers
Female
Health risks
Hispanic or Latino
Humans
Indicators
Injuries
Knee
Latino/Hispanic
Male
migrant and seasonal farmworkers
North Carolina - epidemiology
Occupational health
occupational injury
Sports medicine
Transients and Migrants
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Summary:Background Although children 10–17 years can be hired to work in agriculture, little research has addressed possible musculoskeletal injuries. Children may be at particular risk for these injuries because of the repetitive and load bearing nature of work tasks. Existing research relies on child workers to self‐report musculoskeletal injuries. Methods In 2017, 202 Latinx child farmworkers ages 10–17 employed across North Carolina completed survey interviews. In 2018, 145 of these children (94 [64.8%] current farmworkers) completed a physical examination and second interview. The examination obtained findings for upper and lower extremity as well as back injuries. Results Positive indicators for musculoskeletal symptoms were few in either current or former child farmworkers. The knee was most common site for positive indicators with 15.4% of children having at least one. Combining all anatomical sites, 29.0% of children had at least one positive indicator, with no significant difference between current and former farmworkers. Overall, boys had significantly more indicators of knee injuries than girls (21.3% vs. 4.1%), indicators of ankle injuries were found only in the youngest workers (9.5% of children 11–13 years), and significantly fewer current farmworkers had indicators of lower back injuries than former farmworkers (6.4% vs. 17.7%). Conclusions Expectations of injuries come from previous studies using child farmworker self‐reports, adult farmworker injury rates, and sports medicine pediatric findings. Hired child farmworkers may not perform activities as repetitious and load‐bearing as children in sports training or adult farmworkers. Additional research using physical examination is needed to confirm these findings.
ISSN:0271-3586
1097-0274
1097-0274
DOI:10.1002/ajim.23255