Pain and discomfort in the workplace have a negative influence on the worker’s life, where, at a later stage, the pain can develop into an Occupational Illness.
It is important for companies to adopt preventive measures for the health of their employees.
Learn how to prevent, treat and manage pain and discomfort in the workplace.
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LMERT and pain in the workplace
The main cause of pain and discomfort in the workplace is work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs).
This type of injury accounts for more than 85% of occupational illnesses, according to ACT and Social Security data, and has been overlapping in recent years.
These injuries can appear in various sectors of activity, although they may be more prevalent in certain jobs, namely:
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Construction
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Industry (all types of industry)
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Economic areas related to commerce, such as shopkeepers, for example.
The consequences of LMERT go far beyond discomfort and pain in the workplace.
For companies, it can mean
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Days lost from work;
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Breaks in productivity;
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Increased costs for companies.
Injuries that can arise from pain in the workplace
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Overuse injuries:
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Tendinopathies
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Muscle/tendon ruptures
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Traumatic injuries:
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Fractures
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Bruises
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Sprains
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Preventing this type of injury involves improving working conditions, particularly in terms of safety and ergonomics, but it also involves raising workers’ awareness of this issue, with a strong focus on and reinforcement of health literacy.
Occupational Medicine and Occupational Health as a whole play a fundamental role in this regard.
Preventive measures
For the sake of their health, workers must
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Constantly vary your posture in the workplace: it’s important to move around and, to do this, workers should take breaks during the day, get out of the routine of their workstation.
Some tips include getting up from your chair, stretching and taking a break outside.
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Exercise in the workplace: when workers spend a lot of time doing their jobs, they tend to have worse posture throughout the day.
Exercising at work allows the body to relax and corrects the employee’s posture, which will prevent the onset of pain at work.
The company also has an active role to play in preventing pain and discomfort in the workplace:
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Ensuring ideal working conditions: adequate light and temperatures, ensuring that workers are not working in noisy areas, etc.
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Ensuring the adaptability of the workplace:
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Office work: stand up desks, adjustable chairs and screens, ergonomic mice and mouse mats, among others.
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Work in industry: lifting platforms, promoting bilaterality or movements performed unilaterally, but varying the side performing the movement, for example.
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Treatment phases
Initially, treatment involves reducing the symptoms, i.e. reducing the patient’s pain.
After reducing the pain, we proceed to train the structure or tissue, making it more robust and resilient for its day-to-day function.
It is important to remember that tissue training must be done progressively and gradually, in order to always respect its biological healing time).
At a more advanced stage of the pain, alongside treatment, the worker can also adopt some strategies both at work and at home to try to manage the pain or the musculoskeletal condition they are in.
These strategies include:
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Good sleep hygiene;
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Managing stress on a daily basis (focusing on skills rather than weaknesses);
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Mobility techniques for the affected structure;
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Muscle activation techniques.
Pain in the workplace has a very negative impact on workers.
It is the responsibility of every company to ensure the health of its workers.
Don’t make it easy, contact us.
Watch the video on Pain in the Workplace with our Occupational Physician, Exercise Physiologist and Physiotherapist here.
Read also: Forced standing for long periods: what it is, what the effects are and how to prevent it
