Musculoskeletal disorders

Headline data from 2008/09 Self-reported Work-related Illness questionnaire module included in the national Labour Force Survey (LFS)

• In 2008/09, an estimated 215 000 people in Great Britain who had worked in the last year believed they were suffering from a musculoskeletal disorder mainly affecting the upper limbs or neck that was caused or made worse by their current or past work, according to the LFS (Table SWIT3W12). This equates to 710 per 100 000 people (0.71%) in Great Britain who worked in the last 12 months.
• Of these, over a third, 84 000 people, first became aware of their work-related musculoskeletal disorder mainly affecting the upper limbs or neck in the previous 12 months. This equates to an estimated 280 per 100 000 people (0.28%) with a new work-related musculoskeletal disorder mainly affecting the upper limbs or neck in this period (Table SWIT6W12).
• This incidence rate is statistically significantly lower than in 2006/07, but of a similar order to other years over the period 2001/02 to 2005/06, and 2007/08 (Table SWIT6W12SIG).
• The LFS shows that an estimated 3.8 million working days (full-day equivalent) were lost in 2008/09 through musculoskeletal disorders mainly affecting the upper limbs or neck caused or made worse by work (Table SWIT1). On average, each person suffering took an estimated 17.5 days off in that 12 month period. This equates to an annual loss of 0.16 days per worker.
• The number of days lost per worker in 2008/09 was of a similar order to all previous years back to 2001/02 (Table SWIT1SIG).

Demographic and employment related breakdowns from LFS07/08

Detailed analysis from the 2008/09 Labour Force Survey is not yet available. Therefore for analysis by age, sex, region, occupation, industry and workplace size results from the 2007/08 survey provides the latest data. Full details are available from the 2007/08 main report. Some summary bullet points follow:

In 2007/08:

• The prevalence rate of self-reported work-related upper limb or neck disorders for females was found to be statistically significantly higher than that for men. For both genders, all age groups from 45+ showed higher than average levels of upper limb and neck disorders (See Table ULNAGE1W12).
• The prevalence rates for England and Scotland were of a similar order (not statistically significantly different) for upper limb or neck disorders. Sample numbers were too small to provide a reliable rate for Wales. Within England, only London carried a statistically significantly lower prevalence rate (Table ULNGOR1W12).
• Construction, manufacturing industries and other community, social and personal service activities carried statistically significantly higher prevalence rates for self-reported work-related upper limb or neck disorders as compared with the average for all industries (Table ULNIND2_3YR). Certain occupational groups within these industries such as process, plant and machine operatives, skilled construction and building trades and health and social welfare associate professionals have the highest rates (Table ULNOCC2_3YR)
• There were no statistically significant differences in prevalence rates between small, medium and large businesses (Table ULNSIZE2)

Other information on work-related upper limb or neck disorders from THOR and IIDB sources is available in main MSD commentary.