[Upper limb mechanical overcharge among health care workers].

In medical circle, the disclosure of recurrent symptomatologies on the upper limbs begins to assume characteristics common to many working classes, raising not few problematic issues regarding the interactions between them and the working environment. In the AOUP of Palermo, some working categories were identified, whose activity implicates the upper limbs for instrument use, as well as repetitious movements (odontologists, ultrasonographers, endoscope technicians). The analysis covered a group of endoscopy technicians, both of the medical area and of the surgical one, the first being middle aged and with working seniority significantly higher than the latter. To these people, a RULA questionnaire was given, partially modified with the addition of some questions finalized at pointing out environmental situations that determine physical stresses on the upper limbs, correlated to the working method, to the number of made tests, to the place where they were made. From the study made, it was found that there is high risk of biomechanical overcharge on the upper limbs in the activity of endoscopy technicians. Thus the necessity of preventive corrective measures geared at avoiding on the one hand insurance claims, and on the other, the pathologies which can limit the working activity.