Musculoskeletal trauma in tobacco farming

The incidence of musculoskeletal injury sustained during tobacco farming has been poorly documented. Using the trauma registry for all farm-related injuries occurring during a 16-month period, hospital charts, radiographs, and clinic charts were reviewed to identify those patients sustaining tobacco farming-related injury. Twenty-three of 24 persons who sustained a farm- related injury during the study period were injured while farming tobacco. Seventeen (74%) were injured in falls from vented tobacco-drying barns, and 18 (75%) sustained skeletal injury. Extreme heat, humidity, and poor barn design and maintenance contribute to the incidence of falling. These injuries, largely underreported, may be substantially reduced by improvements in barn design and construction.