Many of you loyal readers know that recently I spent a couple of blog posts talking about musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and their impact on time-loss injuries and workplace safety, especially in the construction trades.  However, MSDs are certainly not confined only to construction worksites.

These kinds of strains, sprains, loss of mobility and pain or soreness can be found in virtually any work site – even in a typical office setting, where you could find people getting eye strain or having trouble with their fingers from excessive repetitive typing or viewing a computer monitor for extended periods of time. Many of these injuries can be prevented, and there are programs and initiatives  that float around that emphasize different  areas of the body which seem to be most commonly affected by MSDs in certain industries.

[Image courtesy of Flickr user stroopsmma via a Creative Commons license]

[Image courtesy of Flickr user stroopsmma via a Creative Commons license]

There are also plenty of tips to help workers prepare their bodies for their work every day. However, there is a movement lately that has been encouraging worksites and companies to take on some of the suport in helping workers prevent these types of problems.

There seems to be a resistance movement. As in, a movement toward resistance training as a way to strengthen the body and mitigate these MSD issues.

A review was conducted recently by researchers at the Toronto Institute for Work and Health (IWH), which loooked at resistance traiing and found it has positive effects on upper extremities of the body, such as the shoulders, arms, wrists and hands. When one considers that over the last 15 years, fully half of Canada job time-loss claims can be attributed to these MSDs and the neck, upper limbs and back serving as the most commons areas of concern, there is something to be said for this type fo preventative work.

What was striking about this review, which was a follow-up on a similar review in 2010, was that resistance training stood out as the best inhibitor of workplace MSD issues, regardless of the amount of time dedicated to the training, (20 minutes to an hour per week, once to several days per week) and regardless of the presence of any medical or physical therapy personnel on-site at the time. Just the presence of some kind of resistance program at a worksite did far more in preventing or mitigating these upper-body MSDs than virtually any other program – with programs like electromagnetic biofeedback and workstation adjustments having negligible if any effect.

This can be a little something to think about fi you find yourself staring at a lotof lost work time fromm people  who have chronic problems with their MSDs. Investing a little bit in a program liek this could pay huge dividends for your company in lowering costs for having employees out of work for a period of time.