Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are a common and costly problem for people and companies across the United States. To lay the foundation for an MSD prevention strategy, it’s important to understand what MSDs are and what causes them. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to allocate your time, attention and resources most effectively to prevent MSDs. Common names for MSDs are “repetitive motion injury”, “repetitive stress injury”, “overuse injury” and many more. The problem with using that kind of terminology is that it implicates a singular cause for damage to the musculoskeletal system – repetition and stress. This is limiting because more and more research is pointing to multiple causative risk factors leading to MSDs. When a worker is exposed to MSD risk factors, they begin to fatigue. When fatigue outruns their body’s recovery system, they develop a musculoskeletal imbalance. Over time, as fatigue continues to outrun recovery and the musculoskeletal imbalance persists, a musculoskeletal disorder develops.