INTRODUCTION: Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common health problems related to work in many countries. These injuries are of great relevance in Brazilian society to represent a high financial cost to society, given the high rate of absenteeism. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the profile of musculoskeletal diseases in a vocational rehabilitation program of the insured from the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) in Campina Grande-PB, Brazil. STUDY DESIGN: A Documentary, transversal, descriptive and quantitative approach. We conducted a survey of 110 medical records of patients from the Vocational Rehabilitation of the INSS, the period from 2007 to July 2009 and included all data from workers who have some of the work-related musculoskeletal disorders previously diagnosed and who were participating in the rehabilitation program proposed by the INSS. The variables sex, age, diagnosis, education, employment status, type of business, length of vocational rehabilitation were analyzed. RESULTS: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affected more men (71.4%) between 21 and 30 years of age and low education level. The most frequent pathologies were synovitis and tenosynovitis (57% of total). Regarding income, 40% earn one to two monthly minimum wages. Among the insured, 51.4% were able to rehabilitate himself through the vocational rehabilitation program within six months and 69.7% returned to work to perform a different function. After applcaion od the Kappa statistical test, it was found that marital status (related to marriage or stable relationship) did not influence the genesis of the DORT for both males (kappa = 0.367 - weak correlation) and for females (value kappa = 0.029 - weak correlation). CONCLUSION: We conclude that the vocational rehabilitation program within the period studied, was efficient in the rehabilitation of the insured.
