Repetitive strain injury common in working women

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Shannon_Harry.jpg” caption=”Harry Shannon”]Women with a post-secondary education and a full-time job are the most likely people to suffer repetitive strain injury such as wrist tendonitis, says Harry Shannon, of McMaster's program in occupational health & environmental medicine.
Their risk is even higher if the job is both psychologically and physically demanding, and the employer is on the verge of downsizing.
Shannon is co-author of a study from the Institute for Work & Health in Toronto published in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
“Women's jobs, especially office jobs and micro assembly work, often involve a high risk for RSI which may explain why more women reported a new RSI,” said Shannon, a professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. “We also suspect that individuals with more education may be more aware of the link between work, demanding conditions and RSI, and therefore may be more likely to attribute their injury to work.”
The research team analysed data from 2,800 individuals across Canada who took part in four successive Statistics Canada's National Population Health Surveys over seven years, 1994 to 2001.
At the time of the final survey, 155 participants reported that they had developed a new RSI. The most common injury was in the wrist or hand (37 per cent), shoulder or upper arm (20 per cent), elbow or lower arm (15 per cent) and lower back (11 per cent).
The team looked at the earlier data from the same people and found that the predictors for RSI included being female (more women than men developed these injuries); having some post-secondary education; and working at a full-time job.
The study also found that high levels of job insecurity, and jobs with high psychological demands or physical demands such as manual labour, were strong predictors of RSI.
These are modifiable risk factors and the findings can be used to support efforts for prevention, said Donald Cole, principal investigator for the study, a senior scientist with the Institute of Work & Health, and an associate professor at the University of Toronto's Department of Public Health Sciences.
According to Statistics Canada, 10 per cent of Canadian adults – about 2.3 million people aged 20 or older – reported having an RSI the previous year in the 2000-2001 Canadian Community Health Survey.
“Repetitive strain injury creates significant personal and economic burden for workers and employers and also has an impact on health care costs,” said Cole, an expert in workplace interventions.
“While there are programs in place to prevent RSI, we need to complement our knowledge of predictors with rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of workplace interventions to convince employers and policymakers to take action to prevent work-related RSIs.”
The Institute for Work & Health is an independent, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to conduct and share research with workers, labour, employers, clinicians and policy-makers to promote, protect and improve the health of working people.