Finishing drywall using traditional mudboxes requires lots of effort and repetition. Your body is forced into awkward positions that can lead to serious wrist, shoulder, arm, and back injuries.

Working with bent wrists, and with your back bent or twisted, is common in hand finishing. You repeat certain difficult hand, arm, and back movements over and over. Some tools used in this work (such as flat and corner "mudboxes”) may also cause problems because you use a lot of strength to push on them.

The combination of pushing and working in an awkward position causes fatigue as well as tired and sore muscles. Eventually it can increase your chance of developing a muscle or joint injury.

The photo on the left shows the problem, while the photo on the right illustrates the solution.

These systems should reduce a worker’s chance of developing muscle and joint injuries. In one study most workers who tried the pneumatic system liked it better than the regular tools. Workers reported that their muscles were not as tired, and they did not have as much pain after using the pneumatic system.

There can also be an improvement in productivity. Workers in the study said the pneumatic system is faster than the older fnishing boxes. Some workers said that it took a while to learn the new system. Although using the system was slow at frst, it became faster within two months.