Work-related stress can be disruptive enough in its own right. But it can also increase the risk of physical injuries in the workplace, which can result in prolonged absences and lower productivity.

In this guide, we explore stress-related physical injuries, covering several ways in which stress directly increases the risk of physical harm on the job.

Stress at work increases injury risk by…

Encouraging employees to rush tasks

When an employee feels stressed, it’s often due to time pressures and the feeling of having too much work to complete in a set period. They may feel there is no other choice but to try and complete tasks at a faster rate, rushing through processes that typically require more care and focus.

To complete tasks rapidly, workers cut corners, and in some cases, this involves taking on unnecessary risk.

In physically demanding roles, this is a major hurdle for workplace injury prevention. Particularly those that involve the use of tools or heavy machinery, this can lead to severe injuries, such as cuts, sprains, broken bones, or even amputations in severe cases.

For example, a veteran machinist at a busy fabrication plant who is behind on a production quota may decide to make up time by clearing a metal jam without fully powering down the equipment, something they would never attempt under normal circumstances. In the rush, their sleeve catches on a moving part, resulting in a severe crush injury.

However, in these sorts of work environments, it’s not just the stressed employee shouldering elevated risk; they also place their colleagues at risk. One person avoiding proper safety protocols around dangerous machinery or hazardous materials can easily lead to the injury of other people in the space.

But even in industries characterised by sedentary roles, such as office work, rushing can place additional strain on the musculoskeletal system, creating discomfort and increasing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

Encouraging a work-through-the-pain approach

For a stressed employee, the work is priority number one. In their panicked state, it must come first, even at the expense of their own physical wellbeing.

In many cases they may still take care to avoid immediate injury risks, such as when using heavy machinery, but completely ignore more subtle hazards, like steadily growing discomfort due to a poorly set up workstation element.

When an employee ignores their body’s warning signs, a stress-related injury, such as a musculoskeletal disorder, is soon to follow, making it physically impossible for them to complete their tasks at a normal rate – or at all.

For example, under pressure, an office worker who usually uses an ergonomically sound desk setup may feel the need to work overtime. To do so, they work out of hours using just their laptop, during travel on trains and caches, and even from their sofa late into the night.

While this extra effort might solve a short-term deadline, the sustained lack of proper postural support quickly takes its toll. Within weeks, the repetitive strain from making do in cramped or awkward positions leads to chronic wrist pain or severe lower back issues.

Cardinus offers comprehensive DSE risk management support to prevent MSDs in office work by as much as 80%. Learn more.

Increasing feelings of tiredness and fatigue

We’ve all been there… you go to bed in desperate need of a good night’s rest, but you lie awake, tossing and turning, unable to shake the worries from your mind.

For many, work-related stress has a very real impact on the quality of sleep. It can keep us up at night despite our best efforts to rest, and can disrupt sleep even when we do manage to drift off¹.

This is because, when you experience stress, certain neurons fire up and send signals to the lateral hypothalamus, a region of the brain that governs wakefulness², resulting in:

• Increased wakefulness: The pathway acts like a biological light switch, keeping the brain in an active, alert state and making it physically difficult to fall or stay asleep.
  
• Memory impairment: Because sleep is when the brain “saves” its work from the day, this stress-induced disruption prevents the brain from properly consolidating memories.

Essentially, stress forces the brain to prioritise survival-based alertness over the rest it needs to function and remember.

Learn how safety managers can support staff in getting enough sleep and staying alert on the job.

Furthermore, not getting enough sleep, due to stress or otherwise, leads to physical fatigue³. This is because lack of sleep impairs brain functions related to recovery. For example, sleep deprivation inhibits the production of growth hormones and alters cortisol secretion, two aspects that play a key role in physical recovery and stress regulation⁴.

In the workplace, fatigue acts as a direct catalyst for physical injury. When a worker is chronically sleep-deprived, their reaction times slow to a level comparable to alcohol impairment, and their ability to judge distances or identify hazards becomes severely compromised.

With this in mind, the link between stress and physical injury is particularly strong among occupational drivers. The cyclical nature of stress and sleep deprivation, with each feeding into the other, can create a “sleep debt”⁵, where the driver becomes increasingly exhausted over time. As this “debt” grows, so too does the driver’s propensity to unintentionally fall asleep⁶.

Increasing muscle tension

In fleeting instances of stress, muscle tension increases and then decreases as the mind calms. However, when stress is prolonged due to workplace pressures, muscles can maintain a level of tension far removed from their normal resting state⁷.

It’s the flexibility of muscles that protects against injury, so a state of constant tension naturally opens the door to stress-related physical injury, most likely strains and tears. Even though the pain may not be tied to one specific movement, employees may feel symptoms akin to repetitive strain injuries.

Muscle tension also impacts the joints, most often through antagonistic co-contraction. This occurs when muscles on both sides of a joint tighten simultaneously, which can increase the physical pressure on joint cartilage by more than 50% of your total body weight⁸.

The purpose of ergonomics is to reduce strain on the joints through neutral postures and varied movement, but sustained muscle tension essentially locks the body in a non-neutral state, increasing the chance of injury during work, whether it be highly physical or sedentary in nature.

Increasing inflammatory responses

Elevated stress hormones can skew the production of cytokines, the signaling proteins that manage inflammation⁹.

While inflammation is a necessary part of healing, stress-induced immune dysregulation can cause the body to stay in a state of high alert. This means that the minor strains or joint pressures caused by a poorly adjusted workstation can quickly become chronic inflammatory conditions requiring time off work.

How Cardinus can help your team manage stress

There are several operational methods for managing stress at work, from hiring additional staff to setting more realistic deadlines. These interventions are often crucial. But it’s also important that employees receive training on managing stress in a healthy, sustainable way.

At Cardinus, we offer a suite of customisable eLearning courses focused on employee wellbeing and productivity. Options include a Personal Wellbeing course that centres on self-care and stress management strategies, and Mental Health Awareness training that equips delegates to identify mental health issues in the workplace, offer appropriate support, and apply coping strategies where needed.

We offer a free trial for several of our eLearning courses. Contact Cardinus today to learn more.

Citations

1. The impact of stress on sleep: Pathogenic sleep reactivity as a vulnerability to insomnia and circadian disorders – National Library of Medicine
2. Role of Hypothalamic CRH Neurons in Regulating the Impact of Stress on Memory and Sleep – The Journal of Neuroscience
3. Tiredness and Fatigue – NHS
4. Sleep and Athletic Performance: Impacts on Physical Performance, Mental Performance, Injury Risk and Recovery, and Mental Health – National Library of Medicine
5. Sleep debt: Theoretical and empirical issues – UPENN
6. Perceived insufficient rest or sleep among adults – United States – Research Gate
7. Stress effects on the body – American Psychological Association
8. Impact of antagonistic muscle co-contraction on in vivo knee contact forces – Research Gate
9. Immunology of Stress: A Review Article – National Library of Medicine