Musculoskeletal disorders
Musculoskeletal disorders (TME) related to the work are the most common health problem in Spain and Europe. They affect to hard-working people of all sectors and represent an important issue with regard to health and costs partners.
According to details of the VI European Survey of Working conditions , three of each five people workers in the European Union they relate musculoskeletal disorder complaints. In Spain, more than a third of work-related injuries and three another quarters of occupational diseases are of musculoskeletal character.
The more common ones
Musculoskeletal disorders can affect to any body part, although the more frequent ones are found in the back, the neck and the superior limbs.
Lower back pain
It is a painful and persistent contracture of muscles that are found in the lower part of the back.
Cervicalgia
Located pain in the cervical area, accompanied sometimes of functional helplessness to move the head. In keener cases you can arrive at to irradiate both the pain and the helplessness functional towards the superior limb and back.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
It is a compression of the middling nerve to its involve the doll at the level of the interior of the tunnel of the carpo. This compression causes pain, adormecimiento, sensation of current, or a combination of the three, in the fingers thumb, index, middle and to cancel.
Tendinitis of the manguito of the rotadores
Inflammation in the tendons that they surround the joint glenoidea (that it unites shoulder with escápula and that one of increased mobility of all the body). For her happen many structures for which there is no enough space, providing the run-in with the bone, which it causes great inflammation and pain.
Epicondilitis
It is a tendon inflammation of extighteners of the doll, that it produces pain in the external side part of the elbow.
Is known as an elbow of tennis player.
Epitrocleitis
Irritation in the origin of the tendons flexors of the doll that it produces pain in the internal side part of the elbow.
Is known as an elbow of golfer.
Causes
The majority of the musculoskeletal disorders are not associated with an only cause, but instead that are owed a combination from several factors that they include the characteristics specific to every person, factors work and factors work extra.
- Personal factors: the physical constitution, the general condition of health, the age, the sex or the genetics.
- Work factors: the work organisations, the repetition of tasks, excessive efforts, the handbook loads manipulation, inadequate postures and the lack of recovery time of the groups muscular implicated.
- Extrawork factors: take a sedentary life or the intensive practice of sports in which is used intensively a certain bodily area.
Costs
Work origin musculoskeletal disorders are source of pain and suffering for the affected ones, so much in its work life as a staff. Not only for the physical suffering but also for a possible income decrease because of sick leaves, for the expenditure in medicines, processing, for the invested time in general practices, for the rehabilitation, etc.
Although specific numbers, the economic cost estimated by the European Agency is not had for the Security and the Health of the health problems related to the work because of musculoskeletal disorders fluctuates between 0.5% and 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Applying this estimate it would suppose an annual cost in the GDP of Spain of approximately 13,000 million euros.
Between costs that they can arrive at to generate to the companies we must emphasise losses of production, experienced staff's losses, contracting and training of staff costs new, consequences of the malaise or the poor health in the quality of the work and other expenses derived from the management of the person's substitution hard-working injured.
The economic and social high cost derived from musculoskeletal disorders highlights the need of taking measures that help to the prevention of this kind of injuries.