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This paper was based on a study that examined the social representations of health-illness process among workers with work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), users of the Reference Center of Occupational Health (CEREST ) in the city of Juiz de Fora, state of Minas Gerais. Information was collected through semistructured interviews with 12 workers, aged between 29 and 55 years. Data were subjected to thematic analysis. The themes of analysis called "representation of health" and "representation of illness" set that, for these workers, illnesses and labor disability represent a painful gap and the destruction of life projects. Tables of deterioration of living conditions and work degradation, reflected on the health of workers, refer us to sustain that the prevention of health problems that would find a higher degree of resolution would be the replanning of work process' organization and effective performance of public health policies, through symbolic representations of broader health, illness and healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]