Identification of physically demanding work tasks among cleaners: field study using electromyography.

IF 1.8 4区医学 Q3 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Annals Of Work Exposures and Health Pub Date : 2024-08-08 DOI:10.1093/annweh/wxae053

Hao Man, Javier Rueda, Jesús Vega, Jonas Vinstrup, Lars L Andersen, Enrique Navarro

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Abstract

While chronic forearm pain is a common and debilitating condition among cleaners, the most physically demanding tasks remain unidentified. The present field study examines forearm muscle activity during 9 common cleaning tasks in a real working environment. Seven healthy cleaners participated in this study (age: 35.17 ± 9.62 yr; height: 168.17 ± 8.06 cm; weight: 77.14 ± 13.78 kg; experience: 5.60 ± 3.29 yr). Surface wireless electromyography (EMG) was recorded from 2 muscles on both sides of the upper limb, flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU), and extensor carpi radialis (ECR), and normalized to maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC). Top-3 demanding high-force tasks (90th percentile EMG) were the rough floor, dirty rough floor, and office floor mopping for the FCU, and mopping high walls, ceiling mopping, and baize cleaning for the ECR. Top-3 static work tasks (10th percentile EMG) were mopping low walls, ceiling mopping, and dirty rough floors mopping for the FCU and mopping of high walls, low walls, and ceiling for the ECR. The study identified the forearm muscles' most physically demanding work tasks during cleaning tasks. The development of better working tools is recommended to avoid high-force overload as well as prolonged static overload of these muscles in cleaners.

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识别清洁工的体力劳动任务：使用肌电图进行实地研究。

慢性前臂疼痛是清洁工中常见的一种使人衰弱的病症，但最耗费体力的任务仍未确定。本实地研究考察了在真实工作环境中执行 9 项常见清洁任务时前臂肌肉的活动情况。七名健康的清洁工参加了此次研究（年龄：35.17 ± 9.62 岁；身高：168.17 ± 8.06 厘米；体重：77.14 ± 13.78 千克；工作经验：5.60 ± 3.29 年；年龄：35.17 ± 9.62 岁；身高：168.17 ± 8.06 厘米；体重：77.14 ± 13.78 千克；工作经验：5.60 ± 3.29 年）：5.60 ± 3.29 年）。对上肢两侧的两块肌肉--尺侧屈肌（FCU）和桡侧伸肌（ECR）进行了表面无线肌电图（EMG）记录，并归一化为最大自主等长收缩（MVIC）。要求最高的三项大力量任务（EMG 第 90 百分位数）分别是：FCU 的粗地板、脏兮兮的粗地板和办公室地板拖地，ECR 的高墙拖地、天花板拖地和地毯清洁。静态工作任务（EMG 第 10 百分位数）的前三名分别是：家庭护理股的拖低墙、拖天花板和拖脏的粗糙地板，以及 ECR 的拖高墙、低墙和天花板。这项研究确定了清洁工作中前臂肌肉最耗费体力的工作任务。建议开发更好的工作工具，以避免清洁工的这些肌肉承受高强度超负荷和长时间静态超负荷。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Annals Of Work Exposures and Health Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

19.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： About the Journal Annals of Work Exposures and Health is dedicated to presenting advances in exposure science supporting the recognition, quantification, and control of exposures at work, and epidemiological studies on their effects on human health and well-being. A key question we apply to submission is, "Is this paper going to help readers better understand, quantify, and control conditions at work that adversely or positively affect health and well-being?" We are interested in high quality scientific research addressing: the quantification of work exposures, including chemical, biological, physical, biomechanical, and psychosocial, and the elements of work organization giving rise to such exposures; the relationship between these exposures and the acute and chronic health consequences for those exposed and their families and communities; populations at special risk of work-related exposures including women, under-represented minorities, immigrants, and other vulnerable groups such as temporary, contingent and informal sector workers; the effectiveness of interventions addressing exposure and risk including production technologies, work process engineering, and personal protective systems; policies and management approaches to reduce risk and improve health and well-being among workers, their families or communities; methodologies and mechanisms that underlie the quantification and/or control of exposure and risk. There is heavy pressure on space in the journal, and the above interests mean that we do not usually publish papers that simply report local conditions without generalizable results. We are also unlikely to publish reports on human health and well-being without information on the work exposure characteristics giving rise to the effects. We particularly welcome contributions from scientists based in, or addressing conditions in, developing economies that fall within the above scope.