Industrial repetitive injuries: working hard to keep incidences down.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: HEALTH & MEDICINE

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer from occupational repetitive stress injuries (RSI) or injuries that are caused on the job. Whether it is low back pain caused by improper lifting, wrist pain caused by an improperly situated keyboard, or neck strain caused by working in cramped conditions, these injuries not only adversely affect employees but also the companies they work for.

In calendar year 2012, a total of $276.1 million was paid in workers' compensation benefits in Alaska; an increase of 5.9 percent over 2011. This may have contributed to Alaska being ranked as the state with the highest workers' compensation premium rates in the country.

According to the US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), repetitive stress injuries comprise more than one hundred different types of job-induced injuries and illnesses resulting from wear and tear on the body. "Basically, in most repetitive injuries you see, the major cause is overexertion caused by excessive forces, vibrating forces, mechanical compression, or sustained or awkward postures," says physical therapist and ergonomist Laurie Macchello of Beacon Occupational Health & Safety Services. "About 25 percent of compensation indemnity claims involve the lower back, and carpal tunnel, tendinitis, and nerve impingement are the second most common."

Repetitive stress injuries are characterized by chronic pain, swelling, and tenderness in an affected area and at times numbness, tingling, and tissue weakness. Left unchecked, acute RSIs can become chronic conditions resulting in workers' compensation claims and lost time on the job and can even cause an employee to have to undergo surgery to correct the problem.

"As an occupational medicine physician, I often see patients trying to take care of these injuries on their own, but after several weeks or even a few months of discomfort, they realize that the pain isn't going to go away," says Marcel Dionne, MD, MSPH, director of medical services, Fairweather LLC. "They think that they might have a standard muscle strain, or that maybe they hit the muscle on something; quite often, they don't connect the pain to the task that they are doing. It's not until they become concerned that that they are getting aches 'for no apparent reason' while at work that they come to see me."

Acute to Chronic

"An average person who verbalizes discomfort has usually had that pain for two to three months before they see a...