Musculoskeletal disorders were first recognised by Ramazzini (1713) who commented that physiological trauma may arise from a poorly designed workplace, or people adopting improper postures at work. Early examples of these included cotton twisters’ wrist and telegraphists’ cramp. Although in many cases automation has solved such problems, similar examples can be found in a whole spectrum of different professions today, both medical and industrial. These include tenosynovitis amongst poultry workers (Armstrong et al., 1982), musculoskeletal complaints among sewing machine operators (Vihman et al., 1982), and back pain in nurses (Stubbs and Buckle, 1984).