Going to work is a part of our daily life. May it be sitting in front of a computer for the most part of the day, going door to door and selling things, working in a factory or being a frontline worker, every job comes with its pros and cons. With the increasing pace of life, we often tend to ignore the seemingly insignificant problems which affect our body during work. These physical issues are also called as ‘Work-related musculoskeletal disorders. ’Musculoskeletal disorders are commonplace throughout the world. They are one of the major reasons for poor efficiency in work settings. Additionally, work-related musculoskeletal disorders are to blame for 50% of all absences lasting longer than three days and 49% of all absences lasting longer than two weeks.
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders can occur due to heavy physical work, overexertion, improper postures, and repetitive movements which disrupt your musculoskeletal system thus directly affecting your bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles. These disorders are also a significant cause behind loss of productivity at work and sick leaves. Musculoskeletal disorders can affect your concentration and focus while working causing you to become less result generative. They may cause pain and discomfort and might restrict your movement. Hence, early diagnosis and treatment is important.
But before diagnosis and treatment, it is necessary to understand which musculoskeletal disorder you can suffer from by working in which job arena and what you can do to prevent it in the early stages to maintain productivity at the workplace.
Desk-jobs: Office workers are the primary target when it comes to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Office workers typically make up a sizable portion of the workforce in any firm. These employees spend the most of their workdays seated in front of a computer for a prolonged period. This may cause discomfort in the back, neck, wrists and knees and increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis, tendinitis, etc and lead to tiredness, and decreased productivity.
Field-work: Professions like mechanical or civil engineering where the involvement on field is necessary or labor inclusive work happening on construction sites are another arena where the risk of getting musculoskeletal disorders increases. These types of jobs require heavy physical work and over-exertion. Often people working in this industry suffer through muscle related problem like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other nerve injuries.
Assembly line work: Assembly line work is where you are a part of the manufacturing process chain of a larger product on a mass production assembly line. This requires performing a repetitive task for a long period of time using the same set of joint/s or muscles repetitively. This may cause pain in the neck, arm, wrists and lower back due to continuous sitting, sitting in uncomfortable positions and performing repetitive movements.
Frontline jobs: Frontline workers like doctors, policemen, sales executives are prone to musculoskeletal disorders because of the high amount of excessive work, uncomfortable and awkward postures and fatigue which puts a direct strain on your body. For example, the static motion performed by doctors while doing surgeries for a long duration or the heavy patrolling done by policemen can lead to musculoskeletal disorders like tension neck syndrome, tendonitis and arthritis.
Musculoskeletal discomfort surrounding the workplace generally takes place due to physical factors like awkward and poor postures, repetitive actions, non-ergonomic workstation design, etc., psychological factors like stress, work pressure, and organizational factors like improper breaks while working, lack of job enrichment may result in fatigue and affect productivity among employees. Thus, improvement of working conditions, proper organization of work, and implementation of ergonomic interferences in the workplace are necessary measures to decrease musculoskeletal problems among office workers.
Apart from this, taking necessary measures to prevent pain is important. One such measure is using a topical pain relief gel like Zandu Fast Relief. It is specially designed with the Micro Droplet formula that penetrates deep into the tissues and provides instant relief from musculoskeletal pain. If your pain persists for a longer period, it is essential to seek medical advice immediately.