A substantial
number
of
interventions,
many
that
are
industry
specific,
have
been
developed
and
used
widely.
Reducing
awkward
postures
by
workstation
redesign
or
adjustment
is
a
well-established
practice
and
recommendations
are
available
for
postural
and
force
exposures
as
well
as
manual
material
handling
tasks.
There
is
evidence
that
introduction
of
specific
pieces
of
equipment
are
beneficial
in
the
medium
term
but
that
equipment,
training
and
policies
must
be
combined.
The
body
of
case
studies
supports
the
effectiveness
of
ergonomics
programs
and
the
business
consensus
is
that
multi-component
programs
are
preferable
Yet
a
key
question
remains:
can
the
interventions
that
we
are
recommending
actually
reduce
MSDs
in
the
workplace?
A
number
of
concerns
are
worth
highlighting
in
this
challenging
area.
It
can
be
argued
that
most
of
the
intervention
research
studies
that
have
been
published
represent,
in
effect,
efficacy
studies.
They
are
performed
in
a
laboratory
or
workplace
settings
under
well-controlled,
even
ideal,
conditions
--
ideal
in
the
sense
that
the
interveners
are
highly
competent,
the
organizations
are
carefully
selected,
and
a
large
amount
of
resources
are
typically
dedicated
to
the
intervention.
If
positive
effects
are
not
seen
in
these
research
interventions
studies,
one
is
left
with
the
question
of
whether
the
intervention
was
not
efficacious,
whether
the
implementation
was
not
intense
enough
or
sustained
for
long
enough,
or
whether
the
study
and
its
design
were
unable
to
detect
any
changes.
In
these
complex
settings
it
is
important
to
understand
why
the
intervention
was
or
was
not
efficacious
so
as
to
better
plan
broad
implementation
strategies.
For more information, read the editorial Why have we not solved the MSD problem?, by Dr. Richard Wells.