RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To study the low back pain(LBP) and its cause on female workers in flat-grained veneer wood industry. METHODS: Bending posture was analyzed by observation and the prevalence of low back pain was investigated by physical examination and questionnaire among 299 female workers. RESULTS: The prevalence of fatigue compliant in selecting, remending and sticking workers was 68.8%, 66.7% and 59.0%, respectively, which mainly involved in the part of low back. The prevalence of low back pain in selection (53.8%) and remending (58.7%) workers was higher than that in sticking workers (30.1%), which was in accordance with the tenderness between L4/L5 or L5/L6 and on the psoas major. Posture analysis indicated that the biggest bending range of selecting and remending workers (80 degrees ) was larger than that of sticking workers (60 degrees ), as well as the daily bending times[(4396+/-817), (1696+/-286), (1094+/-476)] and the time they kept bending[(6.5+/-0.6), (6.2+/-1.3), 4.5+/-0.9) h]. CONCLUSION: Bending posture is common among female workers especially those who work in selecting and remending and might be the major causes for the high prevalence of LBP in flat-grained veneer wood industry.