Job stress and musculoskeletal diseases

Dong Mug Kang; Young Ki Kim; Jong Eun Kim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2011.54.8.851

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Kang, Kim, and Kim: Job stress and musculoskeletal diseases

Continuing Education Column

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2011; 54(8): 851-858.

Published online: 9 August 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2011.54.8.851

Job stress and musculoskeletal diseases

Dong Mug Kang, MD, Young Ki Kim, MD, Jong Eun Kim, MD

Department of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Korea.

Corresponding author: Young Ki Kim, mungis@chol.com

Received 29 April 2011 Accepted 26 May 2011

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Majority of musculo-skeletal diseases are degenerative and work related. Work-related musculoskeletal diseases (WRMSD) are one of the main causes of work-related illnesses in Korea. Risk factors of WRMSD are multifactorial and included in individual, ergonomic and psychological factors. The role of job stress as one of the psychological factors in the development of WRMSD is still poorly understood and there is still no consensus on the epidemiological data. However, it seems likely that the body responds to stress factors through four systems (central nervous, autonomic nervous, endocrine and immune) which are constantly interacting as a complex network. Models on occupational stress and WRMSD offer unique perspectives on the role of occupational stressors on WRMSD. So health care providers should recognize stress-WRMSD interactions through careful, directed inquiry. Because a few studies have shown that stress-related interventions have been associated with decreases in musculo-skeletal symptoms.

Keywords: Musculoskeletal diseases, Job stress, Psychosocial factors, Interventions

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ORCID iDs: Dong Mug Kang
https://orcid.org/http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0657-0181
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