title: Disability caused by work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
abstract: This article describes the magnitude, extent, and economic consequences of some of the more common, work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In addition, it provides a brief historic overview of the state-federal vocational rehabilitation program in the United States. It identifies and considers a constellation of risk factors for work-related disability because of musculoskeletal disorders, and it discusses phases of physical rehabilitation as that process relates to injured workers. The shifting disability paradigm is examined, and attention is given to terminology that has become fashionable since passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Finally, various factors and conditions that often become barriers to an injured person's successful return to the workforce are briefly discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Injury Control Research Center 35294-2041, USA.
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Straaton
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Fine
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Maisiak
mesh_terms: D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D012307:Risk Factors