Understanding work related musculoskeletal pain: does repetitive work cause stress symptoms?
Background: Pain in the neck and upper extremity is reported with high frequency in repetitive work. Mechanical overload of soft tissues seems a plausible mechanism, but psychological factors have received considerable attention during the past decade. If psychological factors are important for development of regional pain in repetitive work, stress symptoms would likely be on the causal path. Aims: To examine whether objective measures of repetitive monotonous work are related to occurrence and development of stress symptoms. Methods: In 1994–95, 2033 unskilled workers with continuous repetitive work and 813 workers with varied work were enrolled. Measures of repetitiveness and force requirements were quantified using video observations to obtain individual exposure estimates. Stress symptoms were recorded at baseline and after approximately one, two, and three years by the Setterlind Stress Profile Inventory. Results: Repetitive work, task cycle time, and quantified measures of repet
