Premium
Ergonomic Pain—Part 1: Etiology, Epidemiology, and Prevention
Author(s) -
Sizer Phillip S.,
Cook Chad,
Brismée JeanMichel,
Dedrick Leslie,
Phelps Valerie
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
pain practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1533-2500
pISSN - 1530-7085
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-7085.2004.04006.x
Subject(s) - medicine , etiology , epidemiology , incidence (geometry) , work (physics) , human factors and ergonomics , task (project management) , physical therapy , whole body vibration , physical medicine and rehabilitation , environmental health , poison control , psychiatry , pathology , engineering , vibration , mechanical engineering , physics , systems engineering , quantum mechanics , optics
Abstract: Work‐related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) have reached a costly epidemic proportion in recent years, producing ergonomic pain as their most frequent clinical consequence. While work‐related MSDs have declined in incidence, their prevalence continues. Individuals develop symptoms as a consequence of numerous factors that include force, sustained posture, repetitive motion, and vibration. Different combinations of these factors lend to different pathomechanical and pathophysiological consequences that appear to be unique to different regions of the body and related to distinctive work environmental and task characteristics. Federal and state agencies have made considerable attempts to regulate the work environment in a preventative fashion in order to reduce the incidence of ergonomic pain and other sequelae of work‐related MSDs.