How To Carefully Handle Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)

The  main focus of this article is on health and safety issues, related to pain and
disorders caused by the work a person does , whether this occurs in neck shoulders
and arms (upper limbs), back, or hips knees and ankles and feet (lower limbs).


These write-up also look into manual handling and the impact of sing display
screen equipment. 

Key messages about MSDs are;


·     You can do things to prevent or minimize MSDs
·      The prevention measures are cost effective
·      You cannot prevent all MSDs, so early
Reporting of symptoms, proper treatment and suitable rehabilitation is essential.
Risk factors causing MSDs can be found in virtually every workplace from commerce to agriculture, health service to construction. An estimated 11.6 million working days a year
are lost to work –related MSDs.
Handle Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)

 Back pain

Most people have back pain at some time. Usually the pain is not caused by anything serious and it settles within a matter of days or weeks.
Medical evidence from the royal college of general practitioners and the faculty of occupational medicine focuses on three key message for sufferers to deal with back pain:-


·      Stay active
·    Try simple relief
·    If you need it seek advice

Upper limb disorders

The term upper limb disorders (ULDs) includes the known as “repetitive strain injury” (RSI), these two terms are not interchangeable because RSI does not cover all upper limb
disorder. ULD is used as an umbrella term for a range of disorders of the hand,
wrist, arm, shoulder and neck. It cover those conditions, with specific medical
diagnoses (e.g.) frozen shoulder, carpal tunnel syndrome), a other conditions
(often called RSI) where there is pain without specific symptoms.  Symptoms may include pain, swelling and difficulty moving. ULD cases caused by work can also mean production losses and compensation for employers.

Lower limb disorders

Lower limb disorder-(LLD) is used as an umbrella term for a range of disorder of the hips, legs, knees, ankles and feet. It cover those conditions with specific dingoes (e.g.)
osteoarthritis of the knee and hip), and other conditions where there is pain
without specific symptoms. Symptoms may include pain, swelling and difficulty
moving. About 20% of all work-related musculoskeletal disorders affect the lower limbs. In 2009/10 an estimated 94,000 people in great Britain who had worked in the last 12 months
suffered from an LLD caused or made worse by their . It is estimated that these
workers took an average of 25 days off work.


 One piece of research suggested that 50% of cases of surgically treated knee
osteoarthritis and 30% of surgically treated hip osteoarthritis were related to occupational factors.

Display screen equipment (DSE)

DSE includes all the potential issues that result using display screen equipment, which used to be referred to as VDUs (visual display units) and include use of computer equipment in both the workplace and at home if you are a home-worker. ULDs, headaches and visual problems can all be associated with working at poorly designed workstations.
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