Rapid Entire Body Assessment

Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) is an occupational risk assessment technique involving a quick ergonomic assessment process to evaluate workplaces at which workers complain of musculoskeletal disorders. The process takes into account the load on the whole musculoskeletal system, whether relating to the use of force to perform a specific task or the need to keep the required body posture.

REBA was developed in 2000 by S. Hognett and L. McAtamney. The technique has been tested on many groups of workers with physically demanding jobs, often performed in forced, non-physiological body postures. Depending on what is needed, REBA can focus on activities associated with the greatest strain on the musculoskeletal system (such as lifting heavy objects and/or adopting uncomfortable body postures), providing information on occupational risks or the need for ergonomic intervention. When used post-intervention, the technique helps evaluate how effective the adopted solutions are. Work activities can also be monitored in a series of (snapshot) observations (e.g. photographs), allowing an assessment of average musculoskeletal system loads over time.

In most cases, work-induced musculoskeletal disorders are manifested by pain. Less frequently, workers complain of muscle stiffness, tingling or numbness. These ailments are a response to the musculoskeletal system being under heavy strain during work and they usually disappear once the work is finished. If the strain is prolonged or excessive, degenerative changes may appear or develop in the musculoskeletal structures that are at the heart of overload syndromes.

The most commonly diagnosed overload syndromes are:

* Carpal tunnel syndrome

* Medial and lateral epicondylitis of the humerus (tennis elbow and golfer's elbow)

* De Quervain's syndrome (tenosynovitis of abductor pollcis longus and the extensor pollcis brevis)

* Spinal pain in the lumbar and cervical regions

* Rotator cuff syndrome.