Occupational Constraints Analysis of Women Engaged in Wheat Harvesting

Abstract The study was undertaken to determine the drudgery of women with the objective of assessing biomechanical and physiological stress while performing wheat harvesting. The field experiment was carried out on 20 women falling in two age groups, viz. 25-35 and 35-45 years. Average heart rate of the women of both age groups increased as the activity proceeded towards the evening. Average heart rate of women of lower age group was 115.9 bpm in the morning and 120.8 bpm in the evening. For the older age group, corresponding figures were 127.2 bpm and 132.7 bpm respectively. The classification of workload on the basis of average and peak heart rate, wheat harvesting activity was graded as moderately heavy to heavy period after activity Almost all the women reported severe to moderate discomfort in lower back (mean score 4.7), knees (3.8), buttocks (2.3) upper back (1.8), ankle knees (3.8), feet (1.7) and neck (1.5).