Self-administered preventive programme for sedentary workers: reducing musculoskeletal symptoms or increasing awareness?

The objective of this study was to evaluate an auto-instructional preventive programme designed to allow the subjects to identify critical aspects related to their work and musculoskeletal comfort, and provide them with some simple alternatives for controlling the identified problems. The programme was evaluated by 36 secretaries and bank clerks through their symptom perception before and after the programme. The results showed that the symptoms increased in number and severity. The programme seemed to have helped the participants to become aware of the ergonomic problems present in their job and to link these problems to physical symptoms. Self-administered preventive programmes can lead to clearly negative results when applied as the only measure to control musculoskeletal symptoms.