• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.395-401
• /
• 2011

Objective: This study examined the effects of working chair that was developed for farmers who work in grapevine's cluster thinning. Background: Agricultural work involves some of the nation's highest occupational risk exposures. Fruit cultivation has been recognized as one of the most hazardous crops in which to work. Grapevine cluster thinning task involve activities related to the main risk factors associated with upper limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Method: An experiment was designed to test the working chair. Six healthy male($25.8{\pm}4.9years$) were selected as the subjects for this study. Electromyography(EMG) was used to monitor the muscles activity, and Electro-goniometer was used to measure the ranges of motions of the elbow, trunk and knee. Subjective test was also carried out to examine discomfort body parts and their pain intensity. A grapevine's working space was built for the experiment and working chair was installed on it. In order to examine the muscle activity and range of motion, subjects used to the working chair for 30 minutes for each experimental condition. Another test without working chair was also performed for comparison. %MVC was used to quantify the level of muscle activity. Results: Decreases of muscle activity was found in all leg muscles and significant decrease of muscle activity was found in left Gastrocnemius. The range of motion of the trunk and knee also decreased when working chair used. Discomfort in lower back, thigh and shank region were reduced significantly. However, in upper limbs muscle activity tended to increase in working chair compared with conventional task. Conclusion: Improvement for cushion in seat back and pan required to reduce discomfort in buttocks. Application: Overall findings verified that the working chair might help to prevent upper limb and lower back MSDs based on the current study. These results can be practically used for work improvement for the grapevine growers to prevent MSDs.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.7
• /
• pp.476-482
• /
• 2017

This study examined the effects of the seat height of a chair on the muscle activity of the erector spinae and rectus abdominis. Thirty healthy subjects were asked to sit on chairs at three different seat heights. The muscle activities of both the erector spinae and rectus abdominis were measured by surface electromyography. The data were analyzed by repeated one way ANOVA and the muscle activity was compared according to the seat height. The alpha level was set to 0.05. The results showed that the muscle activities of the erector spinae were not significantly different among the three seat heights. The muscle activities of the rectus abdominis were significantly different among the three seat heights. Both the rectus abdominis muscle activities were significantly greater in the low seat height than the other seat heights. These results showed that the seat height of the chair affects the muscle activities of the rectus abdominis muscle, leading to musculoskeletal pain, such as low back pain. Therefore, the seat height of a chair with a correct sitting position is important for preventing musculoskeletal pain.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.152-159
• /
• 2019

Purpose: To understand awareness, attitude and knowledge levels of muscle health of adults over 18 years old. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study using questionnaires. A total of 401 questionnaires were included for final analysis. Mean and standard deviation of the continuous variables were analyzed and frequency analysis of categorical variables was performed. To identify differences according to general characteristics, t-test was used. Results: Awareness scores about the importance of muscle health and exercises were 8.3 and 13.0, respectively. Attitude score and knowledge score were 12.4 and 15.0, respectively. There were differences in attitude toward muscle health according to gender, age, physical activity, and diet habits. However, there was no difference in attitude toward muscle health according to educational level, smoking, drinking, or sleeping. Conclusion: It is necessary to seek a strategy to improve awareness and attitude toward muscle health based on knowledge, not merely to raise knowledge level about muscle health. Since nurses play a central role in health promotion and disease prevention, they should also play an important role in strategic development and application of intervention.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.91-103
• /
• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of home exercise program and exercise program of round shoulder adjustments on the level of trapezius muscle activity and attention capacity for middle school students. Method: The participants in this study were composed of 21 middle school students. We made the students lie on the floor in prone position, then measured the height of their acromion from the floor. We chose participants for our study whose measurement values were over 2.5cm. We divided them into two groups, one is for the experimental group, and the other is for the control group. The experimental group exercised three days a week for 6 weeks, including home training, and the control group didn't exercise. We used EMG to measure the trapezius muscle's activity and used a Stroop test for the measurement of the students' attention capacity. Results: The results of our study are as follows. There was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group. However, there was a significant difference within the experimental group when comparing pre and post training results for Trapezius muscle activity and attention capacity. Conclusion: We found that correcting round shoulder symptom increases the Trapezius muscle activity and students' attention capacity. Future experiments should investigate with systemical management. Also, we need to increase the frequency of the exercise and participants.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.657-665
• /
• 1999

The effects of application of mustard oil (MO), a small-fiber excitant and inflammatory irritant into the rat maxillary molar tooth pulp on arterial blood pressure and heat race, and electromyographic (EMG) activity of the jaw muscles were assessed in the anesthetized rats. In addition, Evans blue extravasation following pulpal MO application was measured. Application of MO into the tooth pulp produced a significant increase in mean arterial pressure and heat rate which gradually returned to baseline level. Application of MO into the tooth pulp induced a significant and short-lasting increase in EMG activity of digastric masseter and tongue muscle. Application of MO into the tooth pulp significantly increased the plasma extravasation of Evans blue dye. However, Application of mineral oil into the tooth pulp did not produce any significant changes in EMG activity of the digastric, masseter and tongue muscles, mean arterial pressure and heart rate, and plasma extravasation of Evans blue dye. These findings indicate that changes in arterial blood pressure, heart rate, jaw muscle activity and plasma extravasation accompanying noxious tooth pulp stimulation call be utilized as indirect measure of orofacial pain and inflammation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2016

PURPOSE: This study aimed to compare the electromyography (EMG) activity for the middle deltoid (MD) and upper trapezius (UT) muscles in various shoulder abduction angles in patients with adhesive capsulitis (AC). METHODS: A total of 15 subjects participated in the study: 6 without AC (control group) and 9 with AC (AC group). The muscle activities of the UT and MD were measured using EMG during maximal static shoulder abductions in both groups. Each subject performed three repetitions of horizontal abduction at $0^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, and $90^{\circ}$ of the shoulder abduction angle in a sitting position. The measurement data from the middle 3-seconds of the 5-second periods were used. The mean value of three separate sets of measurements was used in the data analysis. For each muscle, independent t-tests were performed to determine group differences. A measured repeated-measures ANOVA was performed using Bonferroni's post-hoc test. RESULTS: The muscle activity of the UT was significantly greater in the AC group; than in the control group (p<.05). The muscle activity of the MD was significantly lower in the AC group; than in the control group (p<.05). The greatest level of muscle activity for both the MD and UT was demonstrated at the $0-60^{\circ}$ and $0-90^{\circ}$ of shoulder abduction angles in the AC group. CONCLUSION: These findings showed that low muscle activation of the MD may contribute to hyperactivity of the UT during shoulder abduction in AC patients.

• PNF and Movement
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.415-424
• /
• 2018

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effects of various wheelchair handling directions on the upper limb muscle activities of wheelchair attendants while climbing a ramp. Methods: For the study participants, healthy males over 20 years of age were chosen, and the order of the direction of wheelchair handle grip was determined using a randomized method. The handling directions for pushing the wheelchair up a ramp included a general grip with ulnar deviation, a medial grip with wrist pronation, and a neutral grip with a neutral wrist. The muscle activities in the participants' upper limbs were measured using surface electromyography. For statistical data processing, SPSS 18.0 was used to perform repeated measures ANOVA in order to compare the muscle activity among the intervention groups. A contrast test was also conducted among the participants. The significance level (${\alpha}$) was set to 0.05. Results: There was a significant difference between groups using a general grip and a medial grip in the biceps brachii, triceps brachii, and flexor carpi radialis muscles (p<0.05). There was also a significant difference between using a general grip and a neutral grip in the biceps brachii and flexor carpi radialis muscles (p<0.05), and there was a significant difference between using a medial grip and a neutral grip in the biceps brachii and extensor carpi radialis brevis muscles (p<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, the wheelchair assistants' wrist muscle activity was the lowest with a neutral grip while ascending a ramp. Accordingly, this study proposes that wheelchair assistants push wheelchairs up ramps with a neutral grip.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.209-215
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate gait factor and muscle activity depending on hiking poles-using. Eight healthy men volunteered for this experiment. Each of them performed down-hill walking with hiking poles-using and without poles at speed of 3.5km/h for 45 minutes on a treadmill. The treadmill was set 25% down-hill inclination. Kinematic data collected in 60Hz were recorded and analyzed by using 2D motion capture system to measure step time and step length so on. And the lower extremity muscle activities were simultaneously recorded in 1500Hz and assessed by using EMG. The statistical analysis was the paired t-test with repeated measures to compare between hiking poles-using and without poles. The level of statistical significance for all tests was .05. The results of this study were following : Step time was showed statistically different according to pole conditions. That is, the case of poles-using was longer than without poles in step time. Also, step length was showed statistically different between two conditions. Step length about trials with poles was longer than trials without poles. In the muscle activity, the case of all muscles was not showed statistical significance about pole conditions. However, in most muscles IEMG, there were some decreasing-trend relatively when hiking polesusing.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.67-74
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the muscle activations between the professional golfers without low back pain symptom and the professional golfers with low back pain symptom, and so identify the stress related to golf swings, and provide the basic data to minimize the low back pain and the injury risk. Using surface electrode electromyography, we evaluated muscle activity in 6 male professional golfers during the golf drive swing. Surface electrodes were used to record the level of muscle activity in the Abdominal Oblique, Elector Spinae, Rectus Abdominis, Gluteus Maximus muscles during the golfer's swing. These signals were compared with %RVC(Reference voluntary contraction) which was normalized by IEMG(Integrated EMG). The golf swing was divided into five phases: take away, forward swing, acceleration, early follow through, late follow through. we observed patterns of trunk muscle activity throughout five phases of the golf swing. The results can be summarized as follows: RES(Right Elector Spinae) had statistically significant difference in take away phase, LGM(Left Gluteus Maximus), LRA(Left Rectus Abdominis), LOA(Left Oblique Abdominal) had statistically significant difference in forward swing phase, RES(Right Elector Spinae), RGM(Right Gluteus Maximus), ROA(Right Oblique Abdominal) had statistically significant difference in acceleration phase, RES(Right Elector Spinae), RGM(Right Gluteus Maximus) had statistically significant difference in early follow-through phase, LES(Left Elector Spinae), RGM(Right Gluteus Maximus) had statistically significant difference in late follow through phase.

• PNF and Movement
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.311-319
• /
• 2019

Purpose: This study was conducted to determine the structural change in knees caused by quadriceps angle and the muscle activity in lower limbs. Indirect intervention was provided by using taping for stability in the ankle joints, which affected patellofemoral pain. Methods: The subjects in this study were 20 patients with patellofemoral pain who visited ${\bigcirc}{\bigcirc}{\bigcirc} $ Hospital in Busan. The visual analogue scale measured the dynamic quadriceps angle and the degree of pain felt by the patients while walking down stairs, which was a known factor of patellofemoral pain. In addition, muscle activities in the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, tibialis anterior, peroneus longus, and biceps femoris, which affect the knees and ankles, were measured using surface electromyography. The muscle activities were converted into %RVC for this study. The data obtained in this study were analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test using the SPSS Ver. 25.0 statistical program. The significance level ${\alpha}$ was 0.05. Results: The study results showed that the pain and dynamic quadriceps angle were significantly reduced statistically when applying the calcaneus fixation taping (p<0.05). Muscle activity in the lower limbs was significantly decreased in the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, and tibialis anterior (p<0.05). Conclusion: The summary of the study results verified that the calcaneus fixation taping reduced the pain and dynamic quadriceps angle by providing stability in the ankle joints. It also produced efficient movement due to the difference in lower-limb muscle activity.