Repetitive Strain Injury

RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury
RMI - Repetitive Motion Injury
UECTD - Upper Extremity Cumulative Trauma Disorders
WRULD - Work Related Upper Limb Disorder

This disability may be chronic or acute and usually is described as pain caused by overuse of extremities, usually hands and wrists.
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Administrative Control - Procedures and methods, set up by the employer, that significantly reduce exposure to risk factors by altering the way in which work is performed; examples include employee rotation, job task enlargement, and adjustment of work pace.

Anthropometry- Anthropometry is the branch of the human sciences that deals with body measurements.

Awkward Posture -Posture is the position of the body while performing work activities. Awkward posture is associated with an increased risk for injury. It is generally considered that the more a joint deviates from the neutral (natural) position, the greater the risk of injury.

Specific postures have been associated with injury. For example:

Wrist

Flexion/extension (bending up and down)
Ulnar/radial deviation (side bending)
Shoulder

Abduction/flexion (upper arm positioned out to the side or above shoulder level)
Hands at or above shoulder height
Neck (cervical spine)

flexion/extension or bending the neck forward and to the back
side bending as when holding a telephone receiver on the shoulder
Low back

Bending at the waist, twisting
Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs) - Term used for injuries that occur over a period because of repeated trauma or exposure to a specific body part, such as the back, hand, wrist and forearm. Muscles and joints are stressed, tendons are inflamed, nerves pinched or the flow of blood is restricted. Common occupational induced disorders in this class include carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis (tennis elbow), tendinitis, tenosynovitis, synovitis, stenosing tenosynovitis of the finger, DeQuervian's Syndrome, and low back pain.

Duration - Duration is the length of exposure to a risk factor. It can be measured as the minutes or hours per day the worker is exposed to a risk. Duration can also be viewed as the years of exposure to a risk factor. In general, the greater the duration of exposure to a risk factor, the greater the degree of risk. However, specific duration guidelines have not been established for risk factors such as force, posture and repetition.

Engineering Control - Physical changes to jobs that control exposure to risk. Engineering controls act on the source of the hazard and control employee exposure to the hazard without relying on the employee to take self-protective action or intervention. Examples include: changing the handle angle of a tool, using a lighter weight part, and providing a chair that has adjustability.

Ergonomics - According to Ergoweb: The science of work. Ergonomics removes barriers to quality, productivity, and safe human performance by fitting products, tasks and environments to people.

Ergonomic program - A systematic process for anticipating, identifying, analyzing and controlling ergonomic risk factors.

Force - The amount of muscular effort required to perform a task. Generally, the greater the force, the greater the degree of risk. High force has been associated with Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders at the shoulder/neck, the low back and the forearm/wrist/hand.

Human Factors - A term synonomous with 'ergonomics', is the branch of this science that began in the US and focuses on cognitive performance of humans.

Lighting - The level of illumination in the workplace. Poor lighting can lead to visual symptoms of eye strain, eye focusing breakdown, eye coordination abnormalities, and eye fatigue while performing select activities such as video display terminal tasks.

Manual Material Handling - Lifting, carrying, and moving materials without mechanical aide.

Motion: Velocity/Acceleration - Velocity/ acceleration is the speed of body part motion and the rate of change of speed of body part motion, respectively. It is generally regarded that increased acceleration leads to increased risk of injury.

Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) - Injuries and disorders of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage and spinal disc; examples include carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff tendonitis, and tension neck syndrome.

NIOSH - National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH is the institution that provides scientific data upon which OSHA makes recommendations.

Occupational Biomechanics - Occupational Biomechanics is a science concerned with the mechanical behavior of muscuskeletal tissues when physical work is performed.

RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury
RMI - Repetitive Motion Injury
UECTD - Upper Extremity Cumulative Trauma Disorders
WRULD - Work Related Upper Limb Disorder

Occupational Illness - Any abnormal condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury caused by exposure to factors associated with employment. It includes acute and chronic illnesses or disease which may be caused by inhalation, absorption, ingestion or direct contact. The broad categories of occupational illnesses are skin diseases and disorders, dust diseases of the lungs, respiratory condition due to toxic agents, poisoning (systemic effects of toxic materials), disorders due to physical agents other than toxic materials, and disorders from repeated trauma.

Occupational Injury - Any injury such as a cut, fracture, sprain, amputation, etc., which results from a work-related event or from a single instantaneous exposure in the work environment. Examples of injuries or disorders that can be work related include:

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)
Rotator cuff syndrome
De Quervain's disease
Trigger finger
Tarsal tunnel syndrome
Sciatica
Epicondylitis
Tendinitis
Raynaud's phenomenon
Carpet layers knee
Herniated spinal disc
Low back pain
OSHA - Occupational Safety