Centre launched to tackle arthritis at work

Led by the University of Southampton, researchers at the Arthritis Research UK/MRC Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work are attempting to discover cost-effective ways of reducing the impact of conditions that affect the muscles, joints and bones on people’s employment and productivity.

The centre, which will be co-located with the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit at the University of Southampton, will also benefit from collaborative input from the Universities of Aberdeen, Oxford, Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester and Salford, Guy’s and St Thomas’s Trust and Imperial College.

“Musculoskeletal conditions are a major cause of sickness absence and job loss

Centre director David Coggon

Research undertaken at the centre will focus on the three main musculoskeletal causes of work disability - back, neck and arm pain, osteoarthritis and inflammatory arthritis.

According to researchers, a special theme will be the impact of these conditions on older people who are approaching normal retirement age.

Karen Walker-Bone, centre deputy director, said: “We’re planning a number of specific research projects that could have important impacts on policy and on the management of musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace.”

Included in these specific research projects are: Investigations into whether a social media and internet campaign to spread positive messages about how best to manage back pain, can improve outcomes for patients; Developing guidelines for patients undergoing surgery for conditions such as knee osteoarthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome on when they should return to work, and what their subsequent levels of activity in the workplace should be; And finding out whether working to an older age is good or bad for health, and in what circumstances.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest that nearly 31 million days of work were lost in 2013 because of back, neck and muscle problems, and they accounted for more prolonged absences than any other ailment - with musculoskeletal disorders having been the primary cause of absenteeism for the past five years in the UK.

Director of the new centre, David Coggon, said: “Musculoskeletal conditions are a major cause of sickness absence and job loss. We’re enormously excited about our new centre which we hope will lead to new ways of preventing their occurrence, and helping employees who are affected to stay in productive work.”

Likewise, director of research at medical research charity Arthritis Research UK, Stephen Simpson said: “The reason for setting up the centre is that we simply don’t know enough about the best ways of keeping people with musculoskeletal conditions in employment.

“Our researchers will be working with employees, employers and the medical profession to find solutions to what is a major issue for society, and we expect it will lead to some direct, practical outcomes.”

Within a laboratory environment, for example, employees who perform repetitive tasks such as manual pipetting can suffer from strain injuries. In that instance, liquid handling firms have already begun to roll-out advice to help reduce discomfort and tackle the onset of possible musculoskeletal injury.