Reacción a "Ergonomic adjustments do not help to alleviate work-related discomfort once it has already arisen"

The article addresses a problem of vital importance in the field of occupational health: musculoskeletal disorders amongst workers. These rank amongst the leading causes of sick leave due to general and work-related illnesses and are the leading cause of reported occupational diseases.

The manuscript reviews the literature on ergonomic interventions carried out to improve symptoms and quality of life among affected workers, concluding that in most cases these interventions prove to be of limited effectiveness once the condition or discomfort has already developed, which should lead us to focus on prevention rather than on the treatment of these conditions.

The literature review carried out complies with internationally accepted protocols for this type of study and includes a sufficiently large number of studies with adequate representation of workers from different parts of the world, comprising 20 studies with a total of 2,478 participants. The results—albeit with the caution that must always be exercised when analysing this type of research due to potential biases (which the authors themselves acknowledge in the manuscript, detailing how they sought to minimise them)—are conclusive and may open up new avenues of research. It is even noted that the evidence regarding certain practices is uncertain and that further studies in this field are required.