Sonographers’ experiences of work-related musculoskeletal disorder: The everyday consequences of physiological stress and injury in contemporary ultra
Gareth C. Bolton, Medical & Sport Sciences University of Cumbria
Background:
In 2013, the UK government’s Migration Advisory Committee listed sonography as an official ‘shortage specialty’ (Migration Advisory Committee, 2013; Parker & Harrison, 2015). As a consequence of the working stresses allied to this shortage, British sonographers have increasingly been reducing hours or leaving clinical practice entirely (Miller et al, 2018). Among those who remain, incidences of reported chronic pain and active injury are on the increase in a profession that was already synonymous with high rates of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRSMD) (Harrison & Harris,2015). While contemporary research has described the rates of WRMSD among ultrasound practitioners (Bolton & Cox, 2015), none has to date extensively explored its personal and professional impacts on individual sonographers.