[Clinical studies in working populations: value and significance of anamnestic findings, clinical tests and instrumental tests for the diagnosis of musculoskeletal disorders of the upper extremities]. / Studi clinici in popolazioni lavorative: valore e significato dei rilievi anamnestici, dei test clinici e degli esami strumentali per la diagnosi delle affezioni muscolo-scheletriche degli arti superiori (WMSDs).

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss the value and significance of symptoms in WMSDs, considering that the anamnestic threshold proposed in epidemiological investigations cannot be used as clinical and diagnosing criteria. Some useful clinical procedures are suggested for cases where there is a suspicion of musculo-skeletal disorders of the cervical spine and upper limbs, bearing in mind that they are to be applied within the framework of health surveillance programmes undertaken by health care practitioners who are not specialists in orthopaedics, physiatrics or neurology. The recommendations for instrumental tests and specialist referrals are also discussed for the various disorders. The authors also provide flow charts for the diagnostic procedures pertaining to WMSDs. The Appendix shows a sample patient chart illustrating the proposed procedures; it also permits the findings to be encoded so that they can be stored in a dedicated database. The codes for diagnosing WMSDs are also reported for the same epidemiological purposes.