In this phase, weavers’ individual characteristics and
upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms in active weaving
workshops in rural and urban districts of nine cities in
three Iranian provinces including Eastern Azarbayejan
(north–west of Iran), Isfahan (central of Iran) and Kerman
(south–east of Iran) were surveyed and weaving hand tools
were studied. In each province, up to 300 weavers were
randomly selected from the corresponding list of workshops.
Totally, 862 weavers participated in this phase of
study. A questionnaire was applied to collect required data
from each weaver. The questionnaire consisted of three
parts including; (a) personal details, (b) Nordic Musculoskeletal
Questionnaire for upper limbs (Kuorinka et al.,
1987), and (c) a table for anthropometric dimensions of
hand.
All workshops were visited and the questionnaires