Overall scale

Musculoskeletal disorders have consistently been the most commonly reported type of work-related illness in the Self-reported Work-related Illness (SWI) questionnaire module included annually in the national Labour Force Survey (LFS).  Latest results indicate that in 2007/08 an estimated prevalence of 539 000 people in Great Britain, who worked in the last year, suffered from a musculoskeletal disorder caused or made worse by their current or past work. This equates to 1800 per 100 000 people (1.8%) who worked in the last 12 months in Great Britain.

Of these, an estimated 241 000 (45%) suffered from a disorder mainly affecting their back, 213 000 (40%) from a disorder mainly affecting their upper limbs or neck, and 86 000 (16%) mainly affecting their lower limbs (see Table SWIT3W12). Of the estimated prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in people who worked in the last year, about a third of cases (178 000) were new (incidence) cases (see Table SWIT6W12). This equates to an estimated incidence rate of 590 per 100 000 people (0.59%).  Whilst this rate has fluctuated in recent years it is statistically significantly lower than in 2001/02 (see Table SWIT6W12SIG).

Since January 1996, occupational physicians have reported new cases of musculoskeletal disorders, along with other occupational diseases to OPRA. Since October 1997 rheumatologists have been reporting to MOSS, the surveillance scheme for musculoskeletal disorders caused by work. Table THORM01 shows that occupational physicians reporting to OPRA saw an estimated 2786 new cases of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in 2007 and a further estimated 1608 individuals were seen by rheumatologists reporting to MOSS in the same period. In 2007, upper limb disorders accounted for just over  60% of all diagnoses made by rheumatologists and occupational physicians in the MOSS and OPRA schemes. Spine or back disorders (neck/thoracic spine, lumbar spine/trunk) accounted for approximately 25% of diagnoses, whilst lower limb disorders (hip/knee/leg, ankle/foot) comprised an estimated 8 % of all diagnoses.

The Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Scheme (IIDB) provides statistics on a limited number of specifically work-related musculoskeletal disorders that are classed as prescribed diseases under the scheme: namely beat hand, beat elbow, beat knee, cramp of the hand or forearm and inflammation of tendons of the hand, forearm or associated tendon sheaths (tenosynovitis). Beat hand and beat elbow are grouped together because of small numbers. With the exception of beat knee these are all upper limb disorders. Table IIDB02 shows that in 2006/07 there were 215 new cases assessed for disablement benefit due to a prescribed musculoskeletal disorder under the Industrial Injuries Scheme. In addition 435 new cases of carpal tunnel syndrome were assessed for disablement benefit (see Table IIDB03)

Note: From April 2002 the figures include a small number of cases where the claimant has been assessed as suffering but with no loss of faculty, or where the percentage disability had not been coded at the time of publication due to the provisional nature of the data.