Objective: To determine prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the sewing occupation in Khon Kaen province. Materials methods: Three hundred and ninety-eight workers of the sewing machine division of the clothes sewing factory were participated in this study. The participants were asked to fill out the Standard Nordic Questionnaire in Thai version. Results: This study found that the top three of the prevalence of joint pain in the last seven days were low back pain (32.7%, 95%CI: 28.0, 37.3), shoulder pain (27.4%, 95%CI: 22.9, 31.8) and hip pain (26.4%, 95% CI: 22.0, 30.7), respectively. The top three of the prevalence of joint pain in the last twelve months were low back pain (30.7%, 95%CI: 26.1, 35.2), shoulder pain (25.1%, 95%CI: 20.8, 29.4), and upper back pain (24.1%, 95% CI: 19.9, 28.3), respectively. And the top three of the sickness absence which affected by pain were low back pain (22.9%, 95%CI: 18.7, 27.0), hip pain (18.9%, 95%CI: 15.7, 23.5), and shoulder pain and upper back pain (19.4%, 95%CI: 15.4, 23.2), respectively. Conclusion: The findings of the study demonstrated that low back pain, shoulder pain and hip pain are common problems that were found in sewing clothes employees and could make them absent from work. Therefore it would be worth to further investigate the risk factors associated with these problems in the sewing occupation in order to prevent them suffering from the disorders.
