Ergonomics

Program to Prevent and Treat Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders

Work can be tough on your body. Overuse on the job damages your muscles, tendons, nerves and blood vessels. Serious musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), those related to your muscles and bones, may result.

The Program to Prevent and Treat Work-Related MSDs helps workers and employers solve these problems and correct the conditions that lead to them. The Mount Sinai-I.J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine provides clinical services for people whose work has affected their health in any way. Our goals are to improve health, reduce lost work time and prevent disability through early medical and ergonomic intervention.

MSDs happen in all types of work environments, including offices, health care, hotel services, manufacturing and building trades. Types of jobs where MSDs occur are data entry worker, nurses-aides, baggage handler, assembly line worker and truck driver.

The symptoms of an MSD, which may come and go, include:

• Soreness, tenderness, stiffness
• Pain
• Warmth, burning
• Weakness
• Numbness, tingling

Please contact our Center if you have discomfort, soreness, pain or other symptoms that last more than a few days or interfere with work or home activities. One of our occupational physicians will help you identify the causes of your symptoms and start you on the road to treatment and prevention.

The I.J. Selikoff Center also provides ergonomic evaluations to help identify what part of the work is causing the problem. Occupational ergonomics focuses on fitting jobs to workers — not making the worker adapt to the demands of the job. Ergonomic services are available to workers, employers, city and state agencies, unions, small businesses and the self-employed. Early treatment and ergonomic intervention can keep workers on the job and prevent long-term disability. Ergonomic assessments and intervention can change the work demands and reduce or prevent future MSDs.

For more information about ergonomics:

Jonathan Dropkin, MS
212-241-7844
Program to Prevent and Treat Work-Related MSDs
Mount Sinai-I.J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine
345 East 102nd St. Room 215
New York, NY, 10029
jonathan.dropkin@mssm.edu