Abstract
A survey was carried out to understand and analyze the characteristics of the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders among farmers of pears, grapes, cucumbers, eggplants and various vegetables. One hundred and forty farmers participated in the study. It was found that task characteristics differ according to crops and the gender of the farmers. The fruits farmers mainly assume arm-elevated postures while vegetables farmers mostly take bent-back or squatting postures. The symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders are mostly reported in the low back, shoulder, and knee. Though the rates of symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders were not much different among the crops, the fruits farmers showed relatively higher rate of symptoms in the shoulder and neck than those of other crops. The rate of symptoms of female farmers was higher than that of male farmers, which is the similar results of other studies. The relatively low correlationship between the task characteristics and the rate of symptomes might be caused by the fact that most farmers are involved in various agricultural tasks that are not much different among different crops.