The risk of neck, shoulder and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders due to interactions between physcial and psychosocial work risk factors

Objectives To investigate the possible interactions between physical and psychosocial risk factors in the workplace that may be associated with self-reported neck and upper-lib musculoskeletal disorder symptoms. Methods 891 of 1514 manual handlers, delivery drivers, technicians, customer services computer operators and general office staff reported physical and psychosocial working conditions and neck and upper-limb disorder symptoms using a self-administered questionnaire (59 % return rate). Of the 869 valid questionnaire respondents, 564 individual workers were classified in to one of four exposure groups: high physical high psychosocial, high physical- low psychosocial, low physical- high psychosocial and low physical low psychosocial. Results- The highest increase in risk was found in the high physical- bigb psychosocial exposure group for upper limb disorders. In the analyses, a departure from an additive risk model was observed for the upper-limb outcome definitions but not for those of the neck Conclusions- This study suggests that an interaction effect between physical and psychosocial risk factors in the workplace may exist to increase the risk of self