The Neurological stages of HAVS

Workers handling vibrating tools may experience tingling and numbness in their fingers and hands.

If vibration exposure continues, these symptoms tend to worsen and can interfere with work capacity and life activities. Vibration-exposed workers may exhibit increased vibratory, thermal and tactile thresholds in clinical examinations.

It has been suggested that continuous vibration exposure can not only depress the excitability of skin receptors but also induce pathological changes in the digital nerves such as perineural oedema, followed by fibrosis and nerve fibre loss.

Epidemiological surveys of vibration-exposed workers show that the prevalence of peripheral neurological disorders varies from a few per cent to more than 80 per cent, and that sensory loss affects users of a wide range of tool types. It seems that vibration neuropathy develops independently of other vibration-induced disorders. read more....

A scale of the neurological component of the HAV syndrome was proposed at the Stockholm Workshop 86 (1987), consisting of three stages according to the symptoms and the results of clinical examination and objective tests