Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders among Health Care Workers

Health professionals are among those workers with high prevalence of chronic musculoskeletal disorders (low back pain: around 50%; other sites: 20 to 50%). Work injuries due to falls and slips are also very frequent. For many years in many hospitals, prevention programmes are proposed to the staffs: training in patient handling, protective equipment, working condition improvement, return to work and rehabilitation process are the main subjects of such programmes. Nevertheless, there are few studies evaluating their results, and among them, little show long term improvement. Considering the importance of these diseases and their individual and economic impact, there is a need for comprehensive and participative prevention programmes taking into account psycho-social factors, work organisation and scientific evaluation.