Coping with arm pain in the workplace.

Regional arm pain is a ubiquitous, remittent, and intermittent predicament of life. There is no evidence that arm use in a fashion that is familiar and usually comfortable, inside or outside the workplace, increases the incidence of regional arm pain. Therefore, coping with this morbidity, not avoiding it, is prerequisite to healthfulness. When one systematically examines the reasons a worker may find coping prohibitive, task demands are not the common denominator. Psychosocial factors such as work organization and interpersonal relationships predominate.