Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is used here as a reader-facing umbrella for repetitive-work-related upper-limb, neck and related musculoskeletal outcomes. The available evidence spans self-reported workplace disorders, office-worker symptoms, clinically assessed outcomes and surveillance estimates, so the figures below must be read with their definitions, periods and geographies in view.
Key Repetitive Strain Injury Statistics
The most broadly useful figures are:
- In Great Britain in 2024/25, 511,000 workers had a work-related musculoskeletal disorder according to a self-reported Labour Force Survey estimate.
- In Great Britain in 2024/25, the work-related musculoskeletal disorder rate was 1,470 cases per 100,000 workers.
- In Great Britain in 2024/25, 173,000 new work-related musculoskeletal disorder cases were estimated.
- In Great Britain in 2024/25, the new-case incidence rate was 500 per 100,000 workers.
- Work-related musculoskeletal disorders represented 27% of all work-related ill-health cases in Great Britain in 2024/25.
- Work-related musculoskeletal disorders represented 20% of working days lost to work-related ill health in Great Britain in 2024/25.
- In Great Britain in 2024/25, 211,000 workers mainly had an upper-limb or neck work-related musculoskeletal disorder.
- Upper-limb or neck conditions represented 41% of work-related musculoskeletal disorder cases in Great Britain in 2024/25.
- Upper-limb and neck disorders accounted for 34% of work-related musculoskeletal disorder working days lost in Great Britain in 2024/25.
- Upper-limb and neck disorders averaged 11.4 working days lost per case in Great Britain in 2024/25.
- A European secondary-industry meta-analysis found 51% mean 12-month neck musculoskeletal-disorder prevalence in studies published in the 21st century.
- In a 1999 study of workers at three Michigan companies, high repetition was associated with 3.23 times the odds of distal-upper-extremity tendinitis.
- Among 5,033 Danish computer users, 12-month shoulder musculoskeletal-disorder prevalence was 44.7%.
- A UK study summarized in a 2018 review reported 58% 12-month neck musculoskeletal-disorder prevalence among data-processing workers.
- A multicountry study summarized in the same review found 31.6% past-month disabling wrist/hand pain among office workers in Nicaragua.
- Across Great Britain industries, the average work-related musculoskeletal-disorder rate was 1,180 per 100,000 workers over 2022/23–2024/25.
- Great Britain lost 7.1 million working days to work-related musculoskeletal disorders in 2024/25.
- In a Connecticut capture-recapture study covering 1995–2001, only 5.5%–7.9% of estimated musculoskeletal-disorder cases appeared in workers’ compensation reports annually.
Contents
- Current workplace scale and trends
- Upper-limb and neck data
- Repetitive work exposure and risk
- Office and computer-worker prevalence
- Industry, occupation and worker-group statistics
- Work loss and surveillance
Repetitive Strain Injury Statistics: Current Workplace Scale and Trends
The closest current population-level measure in the supplied evidence is HSE’s work-related musculoskeletal-disorder category, which is broader than diagnosed RSI. In Great Britain, the 2024/25 Labour Force Survey estimated 511,000 affected workers, a rate of 1,470 cases per 100,000 workers, and 173,000 new cases.
The new-case rate was 500 per 100,000 workers. “New” means first noticed within the 12 months before the survey, while the overall estimate includes new and long-standing cases.
According to Work-related musculoskeletal disorders statistics in Great Britain, 2025, work-related MSDs accounted for 27% of all work-related ill-health cases and 20% of working days lost to work-related ill health in 2024/25. HSE’s self-reported estimates are not RSI-specific clinical rates.
HSE’s long series covers 2001/02 through 2024/25, but no ill-health data were collected in 2002/03 or 2012/13. The self-reported MSD rate in each of the latest three years was similar to the 2018/19 pre-pandemic level, with HSE noting pandemic-period effects and sampling confidence intervals.
Upper-Limb and Neck Repetitive Strain Injury Data
Upper-limb and neck outcomes are the most relevant broad body-region category for RSI, but they are not identical to an RSI diagnosis. In Great Britain in 2024/25, 211,000 workers mainly reported an upper-limb or neck work-related MSD, compared with 221,000 whose main affected area was the back and 78,000 whose main affected area was the lower limb.
| Main affected area, Great Britain | Workers, 2024/25 | Share of work-related MSD cases |
|---|---|---|
| Upper limb or neck | 211,000 | 41% |
| Back | 221,000 | 43% |
| Lower limb | 78,000 | 15% |
HSE reports that upper-limb and neck conditions accounted for 34% of work-related MSD working days lost in 2024/25. They averaged 11.4 working days lost per case, compared with 13.2 days for back MSDs and 23 days for lower-limb MSDs; these averages include new and long-standing cases.
These figures and the table are from Work-related musculoskeletal disorders statistics in Great Britain, 2025, and the percentages are rounded.
A systematic review of European secondary industries provides a different view based on published studies from the 21st century. Its mean 12-month prevalence estimates were 42% for wrist MSDs, 50% for shoulder MSDs, 51% for neck MSDs and 54% for combined neck/shoulder MSDs; overall-back MSD prevalence was 60%.
The review included 34 studies in qualitative analysis and 17 in quantitative analysis. Its upper-limb MSD incidence ratios ranged from 0.04 to 0.26 across heterogeneous studies and definitions, so these pooled and range estimates should not be treated as a universal RSI prevalence.
Repetitive Work Exposure and Repetitive Strain Injury Risk
A 1999 cross-sectional study examined 352 workers at three Michigan companies and related an observational repetition scale from 0 to 10 to upper-limb outcomes. High versus low repetition was associated with 2.45 times the odds of wrist, hand or finger discomfort and 3.23 times the odds of distal-upper-extremity tendinitis.
The same study found high repetition associated with 2.32 times the odds of symptoms consistent with carpal tunnel syndrome, and 3.11 times the odds of a combined positive electrodiagnostic result and CTS-consistent symptoms. These are study-specific associations, not causal risk estimates or prospective incidence rates.
| Outcome in Michigan workers | High versus low repetition | Per one-unit repetition increase |
|---|---|---|
| Wrist, hand or finger discomfort | 2.45 odds ratio | 1.17 odds ratio |
| Distal-upper-extremity tendinitis | 3.23 odds ratio | 1.23 odds ratio |
| CTS-consistent symptoms | 2.32 odds ratio | 1.16 odds ratio |
| Electrodiagnostic plus CTS-consistent outcome | 3.11 odds ratio | 1.22 odds ratio |
The source is Cross-Sectional Study of the Relationship Between Repetitive Work and the Prevalence of Upper Limb Musculoskeletal Disorders. The study was cross-sectional, medical evaluation and exposure categories were study-specific, and other physical stresses may have confounded results.
Office and Computer-Worker Repetitive Strain Injury Prevalence
A Cochrane review summarized office-worker MSD percentages ranging from 20% to 60%, reflecting different populations and definitions rather than one global office-worker rate. Among 5,033 Danish computer users, 12-month prevalence was 44.7% for shoulder MSDs and 25.8% for wrist-hand MSDs.
Other examples summarized in Ergonomic interventions for preventing work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb and neck among office workers show how results vary by worker group and outcome definition:
- A UK study reported 58% 12-month neck MSD prevalence among data-processing workers and 33% among other office workers.
- A Belgian study reported 45.5% 12-month neck MSD prevalence among office workers.
- A Swedish study reported 61.5% 12-month neck-or-shoulder MSD prevalence among visual-display-terminal workers.
A multicountry study of more than 4,000 office workers measured disabling wrist/hand pain during the past month. The reported prevalence was 2.2% in Pakistan, 2.3% in Japan, 31.3% in Brazil and 31.6% in Nicaragua.
These office-worker figures are not directly interchangeable: disabling past-month pain is narrower than any RSI symptom, while 12-month neck or shoulder MSD outcomes use different recall periods and case definitions. The Cochrane review is a summary of the underlying studies, not evidence that every office population has the same prevalence.
A separate systematic appraisal found point prevalence of upper-extremity disorders ranging from 1.6% to 53.0% across studies reviewed through 2005. Within that appraisal, self-reported working-population and student point prevalence ranged from 30.0% to 53.0%, while physical-examination point prevalence ranged from 9.3% to 26.9%; the studies could not be pooled because their criteria differed.
See Incidence and prevalence of upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders.
Repetitive Strain Injury Statistics by Industry, Occupation and Worker Group
HSE’s three-year averages show broad work-related MSD rates across Great Britain industries and occupations for 2022/23–2024/25. The all-industry average was 1,180 per 100,000 workers.
| Great Britain group | Rate per 100,000 workers, 2022/23–2024/25 |
|---|---|
| Construction | 2,000 |
| Transportation and storage | 1,800 |
| Administrative and support service activities | 1,700 |
| Skilled trades occupations | 2,630 |
| Process, plant and machine operatives | 2,470 |
| Elementary occupations | 1,730 |
| Caring, leisure and other service occupations | 1,640 |
The latest HSE average rates were 1,400 per 100,000 for female workers and 1,570 per 100,000 for male workers. HSE reports that neither difference was statistically significant versus all workers, and these broad MSD rates should not be interpreted as sex-specific RSI rates.
Source: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders statistics in Great Britain, 2025.
The industry and occupation groupings also illustrate why “repetitive strain injury” cannot be reduced to keyboard work. Construction, skilled trades, machine operations, transportation, administrative work and service work involve different physical exposures, while the HSE outcome includes musculoskeletal disorders beyond RSI.
Repetitive Strain Injury Work-Loss and Surveillance Statistics
Great Britain lost an estimated 7.1 million working days to work-related MSDs in 2024/25. The average work-related MSD case involved 14 working days lost, while the upper-limb and neck subgroup averaged 11.4 days per case.
HSE estimated that upper-limb and neck conditions accounted for 34% of MSD working days lost. These are self-reported Labour Force Survey estimates, not a separate national count of clinically diagnosed RSI-related absences; the source also notes confidence intervals and rounded percentages.
The detailed source is Work-related musculoskeletal disorders statistics in Great Britain, 2025.
Historical surveillance shows why compensation records can understate the number of cases. A Connecticut capture-recapture analysis covering 1995–2001 estimated an average annual upper-extremity MSD rate of 133.1 per 10,000 employed persons, while only 5.5%–7.9% of estimated MSD cases appeared to be reported to workers’ compensation annually.
The Connecticut findings are geographically limited to one state and period, and the capture-recapture method differs from compensation-claim counts. The source is Trends in Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorder Reports by Year, Type, and Industrial Sector.
Together, these figures support a cautious interpretation: workplace scale can be large even when the measurement is a broad self-reported MSD category, office-worker prevalence changes substantially with the outcome definition, and surveillance systems capture different parts of the underlying burden.