• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2016

Background: Prolonged sitting leads to low back discomfort and lumbopelvic muscle fatigue. This study examined the characteristics of body perceived discomfort and trunk muscle fatigue during 1 hour of sitting in three postures in office workers. Methods: Thirty workers sat for 1 hour in one of three sitting postures (i.e., upright, slumped, and forward leaning postures). Body discomfort was assessed using the Body Perceived Discomfort scale at the beginning and after 1 hour of sitting. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from superficial lumbar multifidus, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, internal oblique (IO)/transversus abdominis (TrA), and rectus abdominis muscles during 1 hour of sitting. The median frequency (MDF) of the EMG power spectrum was calculated. Results: Regardless of the sitting posture, the Body Perceived Discomfort scores in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock significantly increased after 1 hour of sitting compared with baseline values ($t_{(9)}=-11.97$ to -2.69, p < 0.05). The MDF value of the EMG signal of rectus abdominis, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, and multifidus muscles was unchanged over time in all three sitting postures. Only the right and left IO/TrA in the slumped sitting posture was significantly associated with decreased MDF over time (p = 0.019 to 0.041). Conclusion: Prolonged sitting led to increased body discomfort in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock. No sign of trunk muscle fatigue was detected over 1 hour of sitting in the upright and forward leaning postures. Prolonged slumped sitting may relate to IO/TrA muscle fatigue, which may compromise the stability of the spine, making it susceptible to injury.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.41-54
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to research on status of physical discomfort and clothing life including clothing inconvenience for enhancing self-reliance of elderly women, newly emerging consumer. The subject of research were 346 elderly women who aged 60 or older in Seoul and Seoul Suburbs. Survey consisted of questions about body discomfort, satisfaction and purchasing criteria of ready-to-wear, the inconvenience of clothing. The results of this study are as follows: Physical discomforts were generally associated with the ability to regulate body temperature. The biggest complaint of ready-to-wear was the price, and the next were the size and activity. In purchasing criteria, 'clothes to fit my body shape', 'clothes easy to put on and take off', 'comfortable clothes to work' showed high score. In clothing inconvenience, 'feel inconvenience due to several layers of clothing to avoid chilliness', 'feel heaviness in the waist due to tightness', 'feel chilliness even when wearing several layers of clothing in the winter' were the most uncomfortable parts. Subjects over the age of 80 years and needed the help of others in activities experienced more inconvenience in clothing life. It seems that body discomfort such as dulness of movement and loss of body temperature regulation capability due to aging had a influence on their clothing life. This problem could be improved by the adjustment of pattern allowance, the selection of the fastener, and the proper use of functional fabric. The results of this study will be used as a basis for development of the elderly women's clothing to increase convenience and mobility in everyday life.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.306-317
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• 2002

The Sample was consist of 216 female adults who were selected with my convenience from residing women in and around Seoul, Korea. The result were as fellowing; According to the factor analysis of their foot discomfort, it is divided into 3 factors: the discomfort of whole body (factor 1), the discomfort of foot sole (factor 2), and the discomfort of toes (factor 3). And the foot part of discomfort is more frequent in the order of the big toe, 2·3 metatarsal bones, and the little toe. As the age gets older, the discomfort of foot sole and toes are reported more frequently, and, particularly, more student and office employees have the discomfort of whole body while more sales women and housewives have the discomfort of foot sole. In terms of the shoe types, the higher the hill height, the more the discomfort of foot sole with wearing the sharp toe. As the wearing time is longer, the discomfort of foot sole increases. Being related to the from patterns, the broad and short type has more of the discomfort of foot sole, the flat foot feel more discomfort from the entire body and the sole. Walking with leaning toward the frontal the discomfort on toes and sole increases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.38-43
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• 2007

In this paper, a study is described on finding a relationship between discomfort and body pressure distribution. In the first step, experiments were conducted to find correlation between pressure distribution and discomfort. The experiments of 12 people on 9 seats were performed. In the second step, parameters and correlation coefficients were determined between the measured body pressure distribution and median values of the subjective evaluations of 12 subjects using psychophysical power law.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.4-18
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of thermotherapy on gas pain, post-operative resilience, and body temperature discomfort among patients who received laparoscopic myomectomies. Methods: The experimental group consisted of 62 patients with thermotherapy and the control group consisted of 60 patients. Thermotherapy was applied individually to the experimental group four hours after surgery. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ${\chi}^2$-tests, and repeated measures of analysis of variance, using IBM SPSS Statistics version 18. Results: The results showed no significant interaction effect between the group and time of measurement in gas-related pain in the experimental group. For gas-related pain, there was significant difference in right shoulder pain at 24 hours (t=-4.222, p=.000), 48 hours (t=-3.688, p=.000), 72 hours (t=-2.250, p=.028), and left at 24 hours (t=-3.727, p=.000), 48 hours (t=-4.150, p=.000), and 72 hours (t=-2.482, p=.016) and both shoulders at 24 hours (t=-2.722, p=.009) and 48 hours (t=-2.525, p=.014). There was no significant difference in epigastric pain, excluding both epigastric pain at 48 hours (t=2.908, p=.005), 72 hours (t=3.010, p=.004), but there was a significant difference in objective body temperature discomfort (t=2.895, p=.008). Conclusion: Thermotherapy relieved shoulder gas-related pain and objective body temperature discomfort. It needs to be developed and applied to improve post-operative discomfort in patients with laparoscopic hysterectomies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.435-448
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• 2022

Objectives: As the time spent wearing masks has increased with spread of COVID-19, various research related to masks have been reported. However, there are still few experiments on the physiological response of the body to wearing industrial dust masks in South Korea. Considering the actual working hours at the work site, it is necessary to investigate the comfort of industrial dust masks. Therefore, this study aims to confirm the change in subjective discomfort level according to the wearing time for industrial dust masks in South Korea that have been certified for safety by KCS. Methods: This study evaluated subjective discomfort level over four hours. The experimental conditions were five types: not worn (control group), special grade, first grade, second grade (with valve), and second grade (without valve). The subjective discomfort levels were classified for breathing, warmth (body and face) and wetness (body and face). Subjects recorded their discomfort level on a checklist every one hour. Results: In special grade and second grade (without valve), the discomfort level in terms of breathing, warmth (face), and wetness (face) was significantly higher than that of the control group. However, the effects of all kinds of industrial dust masks on the discomfort level in the body were low. Conclusions: Since this study was conducted on subjects working in an office with a comfortable working environment, it is difficult to apply it to workers at actual industrial sites. However, it is considered meaningful as the first clinical study to evaluate the subjective level of discomfort over a long time for domestic industrial dust masks that have been certified for safety by KCS.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.21 no.48
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• pp.253-262
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• 1998

The purpose of this study is to suggest prevention methods for the health of VDT workers by an ergonomic survey and analysis of body discomfort. Totally 150 VDT workers(male; 78, female; 72) were investigated with questionnaire. From the results of survey, average of the subjects age was 28.5 years(male; 29.7, female; 27.2), average working period was 5.4 years(male; 5.2, female; 5.6), average VDT working hours was 6.3 hours(male; 6.2, female; 6.4) and workers who answered that they use VDT for more than 5 hours a day were over 79%. Among the questionnaires 10.7% and 7.3% of VDT workers complained the discomfort of their neck and lower back, respectively. VDT workers responded that the height of chair, keyboard and computer monitor were the main reasons for feeling discomfort. The results suggest that the VDT syndrome prevention program should be developed for safety and health of the VDT workers.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.626-631
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• 2002

A modified equation for the evaluation of discomfort of a seated human body exposed to differential vibration at the seat and the floor was proposed in this paper. Through the review and analysis of the preceding studies, effect of phase difference between the seat and the floor vibration on discomfort were quantitatively identified. The phase effect was shown to be governed by not only phase difference between the two vibrations but both their frequency and the magnitude, which means the present equation for the evaluation of perceptual amount of vibration provided by ISO 2631-1 should be modified. The proposed equation was developed such that the correction function was multiplied to the present equation. The correction function consisted of three parts, each of them represented the effect by phase difference, frequency and vibration magnitude on discomfort respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.105-110
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• 2008

This study focused on the decreased effect of the work load on using the lower extremity supporter in kneeling posture. Fatigue measures included subjective discomfort ratings through the use of the Borg's CR-10 scale based parameters. The resting period and work method were considered as independent variables. The break time conditions are grouped into 10 seconds after work for 1 min and not exist break time. The method of work conditions are divided into four types. There are kneeling with the lower extremity supporter, kneeling with the knee protector, just kneeling and squatting. The result of the ANOVA of the shift value of subjective discomfort showed the followings: 1) There were differences as regards to the method of the work, the break time and the part of body($p{\leq}0.05$). 2) The lower extremity supporter showed the least subjective discomfort in other part of body except the upper leg.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1997.04a
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• pp.100-106
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to measure perceived joint discomfort in the seated and standing position, and to provide a ranking system of joint discomfort measured in this study. Seven male subjects with no history of musculo-skeletal disorders participated in the experiment. Their physical characteristics were: age -$27.6 {\pm}1.8$ years, stature -$171.0 {\pm}5.5cm$, and body weight -$66.4{\pm}9.3kg$. The results showed that perceived joint discomfort was different depending on the human body joints involved in motion and their movement directions, which imply that the human body motions should be classified intoseveral distinct classes that need to be assigned different weights of postural stress. In the seated postion, the hip movement was the most stressful, the back was the second, and the shoulder was the third. Similarly, in standing postures, the hip was given the highest ranking, followed by the back, and the wrist.