The objective was to study the employment and occupational outcomes of workers who were diagnosed with upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (UL-MSDs) or had complained of upper limb musculoskeletal pain a few years before, compared to workers without upper limb pain.
In 2002-2005, 83 occupational physicians examined 3,710 randomly selected workers. Three groups were constituted between 2007 and 2009: a “UL-MSD” group (workers with a clinically diagnosed UL-MSD); a “MS PAIN” group (workers with pain in the previous seven days and without any clinically diagnosed form); and a “HEALTHY” group (workers with no disorder or upper limb pain).
A total of 2,287 responded to a questionnaire. Fewer subjects were still working in the “UL-MSD” group (79.3%) than in the “MS PAIN” (85.9%) and “HEALTHY” (90.4%) groups. Among the subjects still working, 24% had changed their position in the same company in the “MS PAIN” group, compared to 21% in the “UL-MSD” group, and 19% in the “HEALTHY” group.
This study showed the impact of UL-MSDs on employment outcome and of musculoskeletal pain on occupational outcome
