Sprains, Strains, and the Tools to Stop Them Before They Start
Sprain and strain injuries are some of the most common—and costly—incidents in the workplace. These musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) don’t just happen in heavy industry; they show up in offices, warehouses, healthcare, and construction. But simply reacting to these injuries isn’t enough. Today, safety professionals have access to a growing set of tools and evaluation methods to proactively identify risks and prioritize controls before workers get hurt.
Tools for Evaluating Sprain and Strain Risk
Several ergonomic assessment tools are available to evaluate the forces, posture, and frequency of tasks that can lead to sprains and strains. Some of the most widely used include:
NIOSH Lifting Equation – Ideal for evaluating manual lifting tasks. It calculates a Recommended Weight Limit (RWL) based on load location, frequency, and posture.
Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) – These observational tools score postures and task elements to indicate the risk level of musculoskeletal injuries.
Liberty Mutual Tables – Based on psychophysical data, these tables estimate what percentage of workers can safely handle a given load in a specific posture or lifting scenario.
Wearable Ergonomic Sensors – Newer technologies, like motion capture or sensor-equipped wearables, provide objective data on posture, repetition, and exertion in real time.
These tools can be used during job hazard analyses, routine ergonomic assessments, or incident investigations to identify where sprain and strain risks are most likely.
Data Analysis: Turning Observation into Insight
Beyond individual task evaluations, pattern recognition and statistical analysis can uncover trends across your organization:
Injury Data Mining – Analyzing past incident reports by job title, department, time of day, or task type can help identify injury clusters.
Risk Heat Mapping – Overlaying injury data onto physical locations or workflows can visually highlight hotspots of repetitive stress or poor ergonomics.
Body Part and Mechanism Coding – Classifying incidents by affected body part and injury mechanism (e.g., overexertion, awkward posture) supports more targeted interventions.
Leading Indicators – Tracking early warning signs—like discomfort surveys, near misses, or physical demand changes—can uncover strain risks before they become injuries.
Integrating data sources (incident logs, employee feedback, ergonomic assessments) builds a clearer picture of where risks are hiding.
Prioritizing Controls with a Proactive Risk Ranking System
Not all sprain and strain risks are equal. A proactive ranking system allows you to focus limited resources on the highest-impact improvements. Consider the following factors:
Exposure Frequency – How often is the task performed?
Population Size – How many workers are at risk?
Task Severity – What is the ergonomic score or biomechanical load?
Injury History – Has this task led to past injuries or complaints?
Control Feasibility – How easily can the risk be reduced?
You can use a weighted scoring matrix to assign a numerical risk value to each task or workstation. This allows objective prioritization and helps justify ergonomic investments.
The Bottom Line
Sprain and strain injuries may seem inevitable—but they’re not. With the right evaluation tools and a data-driven approach, safety professionals can systematically uncover risks, prioritize them, and engineer them out of the workplace before anyone gets hurt.
