TILE-MSD

Work related muco-skeletal disorder (WMD) is an injury affecting the muco-skeletal, peripheral nervous & neurovascular systems – that is caused or aggravated by prolonged repetitive forceful or awkward movements, poor postures, ill fitting chairs & equipment or a fast-paced workload. The result is injury to the muscles, nerves and tendon sheath of back, shoulders, neck, arms, elbow, wrist & hand that can cause loss of strength, impairment of motor control, tingling, numbness or pain.

Prevention of MSD among dental professionals include :

• Postural awareness techniques – Maintaining a low back curve

                                                                 - Using a magnification system

                                                                  - Adjusting operator chair properly

• Positioning strategies – Avoiding static postures, alternating between standing & sitting, repositioning of patients at proper height, avoiding twisting.

• Periodic breaks and stretching – chairside directional stretching, stretching during microbreaks, releasing trigger points. 

CONCLUSION

Repetitive strain injuries are on the rise in dentistry. Many dentists have been diagnosed with MSD and majority have experienced some type of mucoskeletal pain in their shoulder, neck, hand, wrist, lower back & elbow. The importance of following proper ergonomic principle should be realized so that these problems can be avoided by increasing awareness of postures used during the work.