objective assessment for caregivers with work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the shoulder

Conditions: Musculoskeletal Disorder

Summary: work-related musculoskeletal disorders (wmsd) are a major public health problem both in france and internationally. our clinical research project focuses on wmsd of the shoulder (wmsd-s), which account for 32% and 23% of these disorders in france and europe, respectively. in order to prevent wmsd-s, the assessment and rehabilitation of workers' physical and functional capacities (pfc) (e.g. joint amplitude) may complement current interventions (e.g. ergonomics) in a novel manner. as a result, the objectives of this project would be to conduct a cohort study assessing the pfc of caregivers with wmsd-s compared to those of healthy subjects and a randomised, controlled, single-blind, multicentre clinical study assessing the relevance of a rehabilitation program for caregivers with wmsd-s working in a hospital setting. this project would foster the promotion of evidence-based physiotherapy and lead to the development of a interdisciplinary research team dedicated to rehabilitation.

work-related musculoskeletal disorders (wmsd) are "a set of peri-articular conditions that can affect various structures of the upper limbs, lower limbs and back: tendons, muscles, joints, nerves and the vascular system"(1). wmsd are a major public health problem both in france and internationally. indeed, these disorders represent 85% of occupational diseases in france (2). our research project focuses on wmsd-s representing 32% and 23% of these disorders in france (3) and europe (4), respectively. these shoulder disorders lead to a decrease in the quality of life of workers (2) but also have direct (e.g. 50k € for shoulder tendinitis \[st\]) and indirect (e.g. between 100k and 350k € for st) costs (5). to prevent wmsd-s, current recommendations encourage regular assessments and interventions at the workers workstation (e.g. biomechanical constraints, ergonomics, etc.) (6,7), their organisation (e. g. "job rotation"...) (8) and psycho-social factors (e. g. stress...) (9) related to work. wmsd-s), which account for 32% and 23% of these disorders in france and europe, respectively. in order to prevent wmsd-s, the assessment and rehabilitation of workers' physical and functional capacities (pfc) (e.g. joint amplitude) may complement current interventions (e.g. ergonomics) in a novel manner. it is believed that the assessment of pfc in workers suffering from wmsd-s is essential to better understand the origin of these disorders, and therefore to optimise their care (10) . to our knowledge, no clinical studies have analysed the interest of a protocol for the assessment of wmsd-s in caregivers. from this observation, the first part of this project would consist of a cohort study assessing the pfc of caregivers with wmsd-s, compared to those of healthy subjects matched in age and gender. this study would improve the understanding of the worker's physical and functional impairments; a fundamental aspect for the individualised person-focused interventions (i.e. rehabilitation), in addition to those carried out at the workstation level (i.e. ergonomics).

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * for caregivers with shoulder pain, the inclusion criteria would be: aged between 18 and 65; being a caregiver in a hospital department and having wmsd-s, objectified by shoulder pain. * for healthy subjects , the inclusion criteria would be : aged between 18 and 65 and no shoulder pain (0/10 on visual analogic scale) in the last 3 months, both at rest and during activity. exclusion criteria: * for caregivers with shoulder pain, the exclusion criterion would be any traumatic event not related to the professional activity that could impair the functionality of the upper limbs. * for healthy subject, the exclusion criterion would be any injury to shoulder muscles or tendons. * for both groups, the exclusion criteria would include smoking, being pregnant, and engaging in traumatic physical activity of the shoulder and any systemic disease or neurological injury.

Keywords: assessment ; work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the shoulder