Cumulative Trauma Disorders – "The Disease of the 90's": An Interdisciplinary Analysis

Cumulative trauma disorders (also called repetitive stress injuries orrepetitive motion injuries) involve injuries to tendons, tendon sheaths, musclesand nerves of the hands, wrists, elbows, arms, shoulders, legs or back that arecaused or aggravated by repetitive motion of the involved limb. This article willrefer to such injuries as cumulative trauma disorders and will use the abbreviation"CTDs." This article will investigate the nature of the medical conditionsincorporated within the classification of CTDs, the legislative and jurisprudentialresponse to these injuries within the workers' compensation law of Louisiana andthe statistical picture of these claims in the workers' compensation system.