Vibration, repetitive motion and compression can cause repetitive stress injuries in the musculoskeletal or nervous systems. Office and assembly line workers are more prone to get these injuries, but they can happen to anyone living in Arizona. These injuries can occur because of conditions at your workplace.
What are some common repetitive stress injuries?
Doctors can diagnose several different types of repetitive stress injuries, including:
- Runner’s knee – This is a dull ache around the front of the knee.
- Raynaud’s disease – This disease causes fingers and toes to feel numb when it is cold or you are stressed.
- Tennis elbow – This is a dull ache at the elbow, forearm or wrist.
- Trigger finger – This condition occurs when a finger gets stuck in a bent position.
- Writer’s cramp – This cramp usually occurs in the hand but can happen in the arm or shoulder.
- Radial tunnel syndrome – This dull ache occurs in the forearm or elbow.
- Bursitis – This condition causes inflammation in the fluid sacks around any joint.
- Shoulder impingement – This condition causes the top of the shoulder to hurt.
Preventing repetitive stress injuries
As an employer, you may not be able to stop all repetitive stress injuries from occurring in your workplace but considering ergonomics can help. You should not ask employees to lift more than 50 pounds repeatedly, and materials should be less than 20 inches from the employee. Employees should be able to adjust the height of their workstations. Finally, they should be encouraged to take short breaks.
Repetitive stress injuries often occur in the workplace, but employees can use ergonomics to help prevent them.
