Are women at increased risk of RSI?
Many studies show an increased risk for women. Most studies show that women have a 1.5 to 2 times higher risk of developing symptoms than men.
There are several possible explanations for this. Firstly, women often have different functions than men. Even if they have the same function in name, there still appear to be differences in the performance of tasks. Women often have more monotonous and repetitive work. Cultural differences in reporting complaints and physiological and hormonal differences between men and women can also lead to different reactions to the same load.
A review by Wendela Hooftmans of the EMGO Institute shows that the available research does not support this (Hooftmans et al. 2003). Furthermore, the stress balance at work is often less favourable for women. Experimental research shows that cashiers have higher levels of stress hormones and higher muscle tension after work than their male colleagues. This is also the case for female managers. This may be because women are less able to switch off from work or because tasks at home affect the load and recovery after a working day (Lundberg et al. 1999).
In addition, women may be treated differently by the company doctor than men. Our own research among absentees due to RSI showed that men resume work significantly faster than women. Among men, approximately 85% were back at work full-time after 8 months, while this was less than 45% among women.
The study showed that men were referred by the company doctor more often for additional diagnostics than women, while women reported more complaints and limitations. Women were more often encouraged to exercise again by the company doctor. In addition, the company doctor reported much more often that little support from the manager or the employer was an obstacle to returning to work.
So the answer to the question:
'Are women at increased risk?' can be summarized as: yes.
It is not yet clear exactly why this is the case. It may be because women more often have one-sided repetitive work. Women do not seem to report more complaints with the same load. They do seem to relax less easily and are treated differently by the company doctor than their male colleagues.
Here… you can read the full report and several publications
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