A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Yogic Postures on Back Pain among Beedi Rolling Women in a Selected Rural Area at Mangalore

Beedi industry is a traditional agro-forest industry which is wide spread in India and ranks as the top sector with most employers. Major portion of this industry includes women work force who hand roll beedis, at homes to earn meager but crucial subsistence level incomes. Being the informal-home based sector, it has been very difficult to organize the workers, with the result that the majority of beedi women work and live in extremely vulnerable conditions. Low back pain is a condition which is more prevalent among the beedi rolling women, mainly due to improper working posture. It is an extremely common disorder in our society with life time prevalence rate placed as high in 80%. Yoga is a holistic approach to attend to the body, mind and spirit and can be administered in beedi rolling women to reduce the intensity of back pain.

to evaluate the effectiveness of selected yogic postures on back pain among beedi rolling women.

Quantitative evaluative approach with a quasi-experimental two group pre-test-post-test design was used for the study. Study was conducted at selected rural area. Forty samples were drawn using purposive sampling technique. Pre-test was done using numerical pain scale and post test was conducted using the same scale.

The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The pretest result showed that majority, 92.5% of beedi rolling women had moderate pain and 7.5% had mild pain. In the experimental group the mean pre-test score was (5.05±0.89) which was reduced to (3.5±0.87) after practicing selected yogic postures. The mean pre-test score in the control group was (4.85±0.92) which was almost similar in post-test also (4.7±0.95). The calculated‘t’ value (14.14, p<0.05) was greater than the table value (t 19=2.09) in the experimental group. The‘t’ value between experimental and control group was (4.83, p< 0.05) which was greater than the table value (t 38=2.02). The calculated chi square values for selected demographic variables were less than the table value, hence concluded that there is no significant association for back pain with these variables. And hence the present study revealed that regular practice of selected yogic postures can reduce the intensity of back pain in beedi rolling women.