Introduction

According to the World Health Organization, in 2017, musculoskeletal diseases were the major contributors to global disability. Considering the exercise of functions in a professional context as an essential component in the daily life of human beings, it is in this environment that many of these injuries arise. The serious economic, labour and social repercussions that this type of injuries can cause brings us to the importance of analysing the current prevalence of these events in several industries, as well as the most affected body areas.

Methods

A literature search was carried out in the Pubmed and Web of Science databases, of articles published after 2015. The keywords used were “employee”, “skeletal muscle”, “injuries” and “industry/ sector”. This research resulted in 132 articles, of which 37 were revised to the full text and assessed their quality, which allowed the selection of 15 articles for a consequent analysis.

Results

Among the various industries, the tanning industry was the one with the highest global prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries (89.1%), 94.5% in females and 85% in males. In general, the prevalence of this type of injury in workers from different industries was around 70%. In most of the industries analysed (such as food, construction and textiles), the back/ lumbar area was the area most described as the origin of these injuries, with the exception of the printing industry, which reported a higher prevalence at the shoulder level. However, the back was the least identified region in the printing industry, being replaced, in this case, by the shoulder region.

Discussion/ Conclusion

In general, and according to the data obtained, industrial workers are affected by a prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries that can vary between about 55% and 90%. The most affected regions of the body include the back, followed by shoulders, lower limbs and neck. The female sex was shown to be the most susceptible gender to contract musculoskeletal injuries, with respect to industrial workers.

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