Workplace ergonomic effects and the development of carpal tunnel syndrome

The workplace has long been studied as a source or cause of various injuries, accidents and/or illnesses. During the last three decades there has been a growing body of literature identifying musculoskeletal disorders as a work related malady.; The ergonomic literature is replete with articles which link (or attest to link) hand-wrist pain to the workplace. In support of this linkage terms such as “work related musculoskeletal disorders” (WRMSDs) have been coined. These WRMSDs are characterized as being sub-acute/chronic, soft tissue disorders ranging in severity from poorly defined discomfort to what has recently been accepted as a specific clinical entity causing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The alleged development of CTS by work and/or the workplace has risen to the level of a generally accepted paradigm which is supported and promulgated by the popular media, the health care and insurance industry and the federal government through the Occupational Safety and Health Organization (OSHA). This paradigm posits that work, and more specifically repetitive work as performed in a modern industrial setting, when involving the hand or wrist, is a precursor or cause of CTS.; However, the CTS published body of knowledge, upon which this paradigm is based, is clouded with sufficient ambiguities, lack of uniformity and imprecision to make moot any comparative analysis, research effort or conclusions which attempt to link the workplace as the primary causative factor in the development of CTS.; The research approach utilized in this study was performed by reexamining the voluminous published literature upon which the CTS paradigm was originally founded. After reviewing and analyzing this CTS literature, it was determined that the overwhelming evidence demonstrates that there is no scientific support for the commonly accepted paradigm linking work and the workplace to CTS. Indeed the research shows that for the most part, CTS is a natural occurrence of life, being primarily predicated by human intrinsic variables such as aging, weight and gender effects.