**1. Introduction**

Work‐related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a constellation of painful disorders of muscles, tendons, joints and nerves, which can affect all body parts, although neck, upper limbs and back are the most common areas. Upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders are

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© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, also highly prevalent in manual‐intensive occupations, and back and lower limb disorders occur disproportionately among truck drivers, warehouse workers, construction trades, among others. In most cases, it could cause chronic disability [1, 2].

The appropriate term is "work‐related" disorders, as distinguished from specifically " occupational" disorders where a single factor is both, necessary and sufficient, in order to cause the disease [3].

MSDs have multiple risk factors, both occupational and nonoccupational. In addition to work demands, other aspects of daily life can influence their appearance. Musculoskeletal tissues can also be affected by systemic diseases [1, 2].

Risk varies by age, gender, socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Other suspected risk factors may include obesity, smoking, muscle strength and other aspects of work capacity [1].

MSDs cause a huge socioeconomic burden to patients and their household, society and their country indeed. Yet, their relevance is often minimized, particularly in developing countries with fragmented healthcare system and poor nations.

MSDs have been extensively studied in several countries; however, few studies have been car‐ ried out so as to investigate the relationship between MSDs and ethnicity [4–9].

The main objective of this chapter is to describe the relationship between MSDs and ethnicity in different parts of the world.
