Muscle strain is injury to muscle as a result of strenuous activity. Almost anyone can put undue tension on muscles during the course of normal daily activities, with heavy lifting or awkward positions while performing e.g. work tasks. Eight questions help you to check how you manage physical strain at your workplace. you will find tips and suggestions on how to perform your work without disorders. 

The meat idustry is a labour-intensive industry. Workers are dealing with manual handling of heavy loads of meat at high frequency. They work under pressure to maintain high rates of work, performing stressful repetitive motions combined with awkward postures. These and many other factors can determine whether a worker is at risk of developing musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs). Practical training in the workplace is essential to prevent MSDs. This leaflet provides exercises to compensate awkward and stressful working postures for workers in the meat industry.

Awkward postures, repetitive motions and manual handling of loads, combined with unfavourable working conditions, are common in the bakery industry. These and many other factors can determine whether a worker is at risk of developing Musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs). Practical training in the workplace is essential to prevent MSDs. This leaflet provides exercises to compensate awkward and stressful working postures for bakers.

Awkward postures, repetitive motions and manual handling of loads, combined with unfavourable working conditions, are common in the majority of jobs in the HORECA (hotels, restaurants and catering) sector. These and many other factors can determine whether a worker is at risk of developing Musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs). Practical training in the workplace is essential to prevent MSDs. This leaflet provides exercises to compensate awkward and stressful working postures in the catering industry.

In health care manual handling of clients is part of everyday life. There are many problems that can arise from incorrect manual handling, therefore young nurses shall be trained from the beginning to use ergonomic and safe work practices. The German Accident Insurance developped several training materials to support trainers and trainees. The aim of the training material is to sensitise young nurses to practice ergonomic moves at their workplace, to draw their attention to awkward and unergonomic positions and thus to prevent back injuries.

Workplace adjustments allow disabled people to have the same access to the workplace as their non-disabled colleagues. The REHADAT portal provides Good Practice examples for people with disabilities. More than 450 Good Practice examples show what employers can do to remove barriers to work for physical disabled people. REHADAT is a project of the Institute of the Institute of the German Economy in Cologne, funded by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS).

In supermarkets and shopping malls, workers have to push a number of shopping trolleys back to the trolley parking place. Pushing trolleys is a physically demanding work that may put workers at risk of muskuloskeletal dieseases. EDEKA in Minden (Germany) developped a pushing aid for trolleys using an electric motor and several safety devices to allow moving the trolleys safely. The shopping trolley pushing aid helps workers to move the trolleys and therefore help older  workers to stay at workforce as long as possible.

Time2Work aims to dispel misconceptions about RMDs and shows how employers can best support people who live and work with the conditions. The campaign includes videos featuring the experiences of people who are working with a chronic MSD. These videos are found on the 'EULAR campaign' section of the EULAR YouTube channel.

The Don’t Delay, Connect Today campaign aims to highlight that early diagnosis of RMDs and access to treatment can prevent further damage, and reduce the burden on individuals and society. The theme for 2019/2020 is Time2Work. Time2Work aims to dispel misconceptions about RMDs and shows how employers can best support people who live and work with the conditions. The campaign includes videos featuring people who are working with chronic MSDs. These videos can also be found on the EULAR campaign section of the EULAR YouTube channel.