Musculoskeletal Risk Assessment Emma Collins Occupational Health Physiotherapist/Moving & Handling Practitioner
Most workplace injuries involve musculoskeletal disorders, 8.3 million working days lost in 2013/14 Repetitive movement patterns and habitual working positions condition the muscular and nervous system into states of tension that lead to injury. At sub-clinical levels, chronic muscular tension is debilitating, creates pain and depletes the body's energy reserves. At clinically significant levels, heightened muscular tension causes muscle pain, joint compression, and nerve impingements that don't readily yield to manipulative clinical approaches. While it's true heightened muscular tension results from injury, it also predisposes people to injury
Why objectively assess? objective/əb ˈ d ʒɛ kt ɪ v/ adjective (of a person or their judgement) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts
RULA and REBA Rapid Upper Limb Assessment and Rapid Entire Body Assessment 2 commonly used Ax tools from the 1990s Valid and reliable Free, easy to use Simple single end score McAtamney & Corlett, Applied Ergonomics 1993, 24(2), Hignett and McAtamney, 2000