Abstract

Objectives:
The objective was to determine the frequency of musculo-skeleton health problems among the coal miners and to assess the relation of musculo-skeleton with various demographic variables among cherat coal miners of District Nowshera Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Pakistan.
Materials & Methods:
A cross-sectional study design was conducted between July and December 2014 at the cherat coal mines of District Nowshera. A sample size of 400 was selected through cluster sampling technique, in which the study area was divided into four clusters and then from each cluster 40% coal miners were selected based on simple random technique. There are approximately 80-90 Cherat coal mines in which around 1000 of coal miners are working. Coal miners having more than one year of coal mining job were included in the study while those with less than one year or having any pathological problems were excluded from the study population. Field visits were conducted to collect relevant data from the study areas.
Results:
Our study results showed that approximately 61% of coal miners had history of musculo-skeleton problems. Among those coal miners who gave history of musculo-skeleton problems, 
The frequency of occupational musculo-skeleton problems among coal miners 61% more and had strong relationship with age, duration of coal mining job, smoking behavior, job satisfaction, coal mining training, knowledge regarding occupational safety and health practices, and with compliance of personnel protective devices.