Health disorders and ergonomic concerns from the use of microscope: A voice from the past

Musculoskeletal disorders are an increasing health problem in workplaces and affect workers in a variety of occupations, including pathologists working at the microscope. This paper aims at reviewing Bernardino Ramazzini's observations of health disorders of subjects working in the second half of the seventeenth century and, in particular, among workers, such as those who do fine work, sedentary workers, secretaries, learned men, goldsmiths, sharing an exposure to risk factors potentially similar to that of professionals using a microscope, involving sedentarity, fatigue from prolonged static posture, strain on the mind, visual discomfort. However, Ramazzini did not limit to observe jobs and describe workers illnesses, but anticipated some modern tools for preventing musculoskeletal disorders by providing workers with advices and recommendations.