What is a musculoskeletal disorder?
A musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) is an injury or disorder of the system that moves the body: muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs and blood vessels. You will also hear the terms repetitive strain injury, repetitive motion injury and overuse injury.
Common MSDs include:
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Tendonitis
- Muscle or tendon strain
- Ligament sprain
- Tension neck syndrome
- Thoracic outlet compression
- Rotator cuff tendonitis
- Epicondylitis
- Mechanical back syndrome
- Degenerative disc disease
- Ruptured or herniated disc
What causes MSDs
The root cause is exposure to risk factors. Exposure makes muscles tired. When that fatigue outruns the body’s ability to recover, a musculoskeletal imbalance develops. If the imbalance persists over time, it becomes a disorder.
The risk factors fall into two groups: work-related (ergonomic) factors and individual factors.
Work-related risk factors
Workplace design plays a central role. Three ergonomic risk factors push the body past its ability to recover:
High task repetition
Many tasks are repetitive and driven by hourly or daily targets. A job counts as highly repetitive when the cycle time is 30 seconds or less. Repetition is most harmful combined with force or awkward postures.
Forceful exertions
Tasks that demand high force make muscles work harder, which increases fatigue.
Repeated or sustained awkward postures
Joints work best near the middle of their range of motion. Working outside that range, repeatedly or for long periods without recovery, overloads the muscles and tendons around the joint.
Individual risk factors
- Work practices. Poor technique, body mechanics and lifting add unnecessary strain.
- Overall health habits. Smoking, heavy drinking and obesity raise the risk of MSDs and other chronic diseases.
- Rest and recovery. Without enough recovery, fatigue builds up.
- Nutrition, fitness and hydration. A body that is poorly maintained recovers more slowly.
Low back pain at work
Lower back pain is the second most common cause of sick leave in Denmark, according to a Danish report from March 2023. Beyond the absence itself, it costs companies in productivity, quality and employee retention.
Repeated bending, twisting, lifting and a high work tempo are typical causes. Cleaning, warehouse, production and care work are especially exposed, but long static sitting strains the back too.
What MLI® Back measures
MLI® Back is a sensor vest that records muscle load and back movement during a normal working day. It shows which tasks strain the back most, so tasks, habits or equipment can be changed where it matters. In facility services, recent measurements showed:
- Up to 56% reduction in critical strain for some functions
- A third of high-risk areas eliminated
- 30% of all employees with less critical strain
How Precure measures strain
EMG: muscle activity
Electromyography (EMG) measures the tiny electrical signals muscles produce when they contract, typically under a thousandth of a volt. The harder and more often a muscle contracts, the stronger the signal. The sensors sit on the inside of the vest or sleeve and send the signal over Bluetooth® to the app.
Motion: posture
Motion sensors record posture, meaning how the body is positioned. They do not track location.
MLI®: one number for load
Muscle and motion data are combined into the MLI® score, Precure’s measure of muscle load on a scale from 0 to 10. Linked to the activities people log, it shows which tasks cause the most strain.
Machine learning
Models trained on historical measurements learn what normal and risky patterns look like. That lets the app give feedback when someone starts moving in a straining way, and suggest exercises that help.
Smart wearables
The wearables are ordinary textiles, a vest for the back and a sleeve for the arm, with sensors built in. The analysis happens in the app and the cloud.