Dl. Holness et al., PREVALENCE OF UPPER EXTREMITY SYMPTOMS AND POSSIBLE RISK-FACTORS IN WORKERS HANDLING PAPER CURRENCY, Occupational medicine, 48(4), 1998, pp. 231-236
The prevalence of upper extremity symptoms in the workforce is high, p
articularly in industries characterized by forceful, repetitive or awk
ward movements. A study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of upp
er extremity symptoms in bank workers in a paper currency processing o
peration and to examine the role of possible risk factors for these co
mplaints. Thirty-nine workers of a total workforce of 47 were assessed
with a questionnaire and physical examination. The questionnaire coll
ected information about demographics, health status, symptom reporting
, psychosocial work stressors and other work exposure characteristics.
Overall, 59% of the workers reported having significant work-related
upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms in the preceding year, includ
ing 49% with neck and shoulder symptoms and 49% with arm and wrist sym
ptoms. In this study the key predictive factor for upper extremity mus
culoskeletal symptoms was psychological job demands. The workers had s
imilar ergonomic stressors (with little gradient of exposure) and ther
efore our results do not contradict the importance of ergonomic factor
s in the development of upper extremity symptoms. However, the results
do suggest that within a group exposed to similar ergonomic stressors
, psychological job demands may be an important factor associated with
musculoskeletal symptoms.