Learn the musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) prevention best practices of leading organizations.
Benjamin Franklin was right, and we believe strongly in the value of prevention.
We’re passionate about serving our clients because we believe a prevention-focused approach creates the most value for their business and is the right thing to do for their people.
We’ve seen an ounce of prevention outweigh pounds of cure time and time again. Our experience partnering with leading organizations has led us to discover the best practices of successful MSD prevention programs.
But before we talk about best practices, we should start at the beginning.
First principles
1. Defining musculoskeletal disorders
Before we get started, we need to establish some ground rules. The first step toward enlightenment is to get a firm grasp on the obvious. In our case, that means getting a useful working definition of “musculoskeletal disorder“.
Useful in this context means actionable – can we find in the definition of musculoskeletal disorder a reasonable basis for taking actions that will predictably lower the likelihood of an injury occurring?
For our purposes, defining an MSD is not complicated.
Musculoskeletal Disorders or MSDs are injuries and disorders that affect the human body’s movement or musculoskeletal system (muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs, blood vessels).
We often hear people describing these injuries as “repetitive motion injuries” or “ergonomic injuries”.
We need to set the record straight on this one. The language you use to describe MSDs is important and often indicative of how successful you will be in preventing them.
A “musculoskeletal disorder” is not a “repetitive motion injury” or an “ergonomic injury” or any other term.
There is no “repetitive motion” part of the human body. There is no “ergonomics” in the human body. A musculoskeletal disorder is a musculoskeletal disorder. It’s an injury/disorder to the human body’s musculoskeletal system.
Using “repetitive motion” or “ergonomic” or any other term besides musculoskeletal disorder to describe these injuries is an attempt to designate a singular cause to the injury. This will always hinder your MSD prevention efforts because there is no singular cause of MSDs.
2. Understanding root causes of MSDs
The work environment is a complex set of systems and the human body is a complex set of systems. MSDs happen at the intersection these systems, and so it won’t surprise you that there are many causative risk factors that can lead to the formation of MSDs.
A combination of ergonomic and individual risk factors are at the root of the formation of MSDs.
Reactive ergonomics: A reactive ergonomics philosophy allows workplace athletes to be exposed to ergonomic risk factors.
The three primary ergonomic risk factors are:
- High Task Repetition
- Excessive Force
- Awkward Postures
Other ergonomic risk factors include:
- Vibration
- Contact stress
- Cold temperatures
Reactive healthcare: A reactive healthcare philosophy allows workplace athletes to be exposed to individual risk factors and only provides help after an injury occurs.
The primary individual risk factors are:
- Poor Work Practices
- Poor Self-care Habits
- Poor Health Habits
Essential elements of a best practice MSD prevention process
Before we move on, let’s sum up the first principles. An understanding of these principles is what guides the best practices of leading organizations:
Given these first principles, the smartest prevention strategy is to control the risks in both the work environment (ergonomic risk factors) and in the body of workplace athletes (individual risk factors).
In our experience, there are six essential elements of a best practice MSD prevention process.
- Program Management
- Ergonomics
- Early Intervention
- Warm-up Stretching
- Workplace Athlete Training
- Musculoskeletal Wellness
Program Management
Leading organizations manage musculoskeletal health. Musculoskeletal health is no different than other organizational initiatives — it must be well planned and tracked to be successful.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the science of designing the workplace, keeping in mind the capabilities and limitations of workers. Poor worksite design leads to fatigued, frustrated and hurting workers.
A systematic ergonomics improvement process improves worksite design, removing risk factors that lead to musculoskeletal injuries and allows for improved human performance and productivity.
Early Intervention
Not all musculoskeletal fatigue requires medical treatment. In fact, when identified early enough most musculoskeletal fatigue and discomfort can be addressed through first-aid measures by an onsite injury prevention specialist. By addressing the root cause of the discomfort, we’re able to prevent injuries and help you remain compliant.
Our onsite injury prevention specialists are Certified Athletic Trainers, and they bring the best principles of sports medicine into the workplace. This approach is driven by engaging employees one-on-one to identify and resolve the root cause of fatigue and discomfort.
This model of proactive, preventive healthcare will create far more value for your organization than reactively waiting to treat the injuries that will inevitably occur in the traditional, reactive model.
Warm-up Stretching
All athletes warm-up and stretch before they perform. The same concept should apply to your workplace athletes before they begin their workday. Our injury prevention specialists can design and implement our proprietary Work Readiness System to ensure your workplace athletes are ready to work.
Workplace Athlete Training
The employees at your company work hard with their bodies to earn a living. That makes them workplace athletes. Our onsite injury prevention specialists are Industrial Athletic Trainers who bring the best principles of Sports Medicine into the workplace to reduce injury risk and improve human performance.
Good decisions and behaviors by workplace athletes require coaching and education. Our onsite injury prevention specialists deliver training programs on ergonomics, body mechanics, work technique, self-care tools and techniques, and more.
Through these training programs and regular one-on-one interactions, we’re able to drive better behaviors and improve human performance.
Musculoskeletal Wellness
A healthier workforce means lower injury risk, less costly injuries, and fewer days away from work. Our on-site injury prevention specialists can help you motivate and educate workplace athletes to adopt healthier lifestyle habits through regular one-on-one interaction and group training sessions.
Our injury prevention specialists focus on practical wellness strategies to reduce musculoskeletal fatigue and increase recovery.
Regular interaction with a preventive healthcare provider will improve outcomes and keep your people at their best.
How do your MSD prevention efforts compare to leading organizations?
Want to know how you measure up?
Complete the Musculoskeletal Health Checklist to discover how your organization’s efforts to prevent musculoskeletal injuries compares to best practices of leading organizations. It’s an interactive tool (that’s free of charge) to grade your MSD prevention process.
Go to the Musculoskeletal Health Checklist.
