• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.375-382
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to analyze the risk factors of the musculoskeletal workload of mid-old-age food preparation workers by identifying the differences in the complaints of subjective symptoms between mid-old-age housewives and mid-old-age food preparation workers. This study was carried out on a total of 83 subjects from April 2009 through July 2009: 43 food preparation workers at the catering department of general hospital A, with a high rate of mid-old-age food preparation staff, and 40 full-time housewives (40~59 years old). The analysis of the relationship between the rates of the subjective symptoms of the two groups showed that the mid-old-age food preparation workers had a 7.8-fold higher risk of developing musculoskeletal diseases than the full-time housewives. The musculoskeletal workload of the mid-old-age food preparation workers included repetitive motions, uncomfortable postures, and heavy lifting. It is hoped that this study will help provide mid-old-age people with opportunities for appropriate economic activity and labor and will help improve their work postures and methods as well as their environmental-risk factors.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.121-130
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• 2014

To devise a plan to efficiently control and cope with musculoskeletal disorders, this study conducted a self-administered survey among dental hygienists working at dental clinics in Daegu. The data were collected from December 1, 2013 to February 28, 2014, and drew the following conclusions. For body posture for medical procedures, at lower levels in their careers, the hygienists' head and back were more bent; at higher levels in their careers, the their shoulders, body and hips were more bent; and at higher levels in their careers, their assistance posture in general was more bent. Hygienists with longer years of experience had more pain in the neck and the arms/elbows. Respondents engaged in medical treatment services were more likely to have pain in their arms/elbows, and those engaged in assisting in medical treatment and consulting and insurance services were more likely to have pain in their necks. It is necessary to recognize the seriousness of musculoskeletal disorders, provide specific education through supplementary training and relevant seminars, and avoid repetitive use of the same muscle or joint through environmental improvement of dental clinics, and personal efforts should be made to maintain good posture.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.80-87
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• 2020

Background: Residential and commercial cleaning is a part of our daily routine to maintain sanitation around the environment. Health care of professionals involved in such cleaning activities has become a major concern all over the world. The present study investigates the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in professional cleaners involved in floor mopping tasks. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 132 mopping professionals using a modified Nordic questionnaire. The Pearson correlation test was implemented to study the association of perceived pain with work experience. The muscle strain and postural risk were evaluated by means of three-channel electromyography and real-time motion capture respectively of 15 professionals during floor mopping. Results: Regarding musculoskeletal injuries, risk was reported majorly in the right hand, lower back, left wrist, right shoulder, left biceps, and right wrist of the workers. Work experience had a low negative association with MSDs in the left wrist, right wrist, right elbow, lower back, and right lower arm (p < 0.01). Surface EMG showed occurrence of higher muscle activity in upper trapezius and biceps brachii (BB) muscles of the dominant hand and flexor carpi radialis and BB muscles of the nondominant hand positioned at the upper and lower portion of the mop rod, respectively. Conclusion: Ergonomic mediations should be executed to lessen the observed risk of musculoskeletal injuries in this professional group of workers.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.245-256
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to research the situation and related knowledge and behavior of Korean beauty artists on their musculoskeletal disorders and the factors on them. It was researched by questionnaire from March 1 to May 31, 2003, and the subjects were 984 of beauty artists who were working as hair designers, skin care specialists, and make-up artists over 1 year in big cities including Seoul, Daegu, Busan and Gwangju. The analyzation was done by frequency, percentage, $x^2-test$, t-test. The results can be summarized as follows; 1. As for their degree of pain according to part of their body, the highest was shoulder as 88.3%, and next were neck(cervical region) as 83.2%, waist as 77.6%, and wrist(hand) as 71.8%, in order. 2. The level of knowledge on the muscloskeletal disorder was 65.6 points on the basis 100points. As for their level of protective behavior and knowledge on the disorders of musculoskeletal system according to their educational experience, the higher educational level they had the higher knowledge level they showed, as 42.6% of 'high', 30.4% of 'medium', and 27.0% of low; and as for degree of performing the protective behavior, they showed the higher protective behavior level when they had the higher educational level. 3. As for their level of knowledge on disorders of musculoskeletal system according to their general uniqueness as beauty artists, they showed statistical significance on the field of their marriage status, educational degree, specialized field, and numbers of customers they manage; and as for the degree of their protective behavior, they showed statistical significance in the field of age, marriage status, specialized field, and rank in their jobs. 4. The level of protecting behavior on the muscloskeletal disorder was 57.4 points on the basis 100points. As for their degree of pain on each part of their body according to their protective behavior and knowledge on musculoskeletal system, it had statistical significance on their elbows and hips, and the less pain they showed when the higher knowledge they had; it had statistical significance on their neck(cervical region), shoulders, backs, waists, knees and ankles(feet) according their protective behavior, and the less pain they showed when the higher level of protective behavior they did.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1021-1039
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• 2012

Based on the ergonomic evaluation of workers in the domestic traditional Korean sweet manufacturer, one of the small scale agricultural product manufacturers, the purpose of this study is on estimating the specific works and muscles that have possibility of musculoskeletal disorder through an EMG experiment for quantitative evaluation. The method followed in an order: works that have musculoskeletal disorder risk were extracted through ergonomic assessment tools, RULA and REBA, and then EMG experiment on the postures was carried out with six healthy adult male patients. As an ergonomic evaluation result, work posture during the drying process had the greatest musculoskeletal disorder risk, and EMG activity in the cleansing work posture scored the highest among the drying, cleansing, and coating work postures. In particular in the drying work, relatively high EMG activities were shown in the two muscles in the lower body: biceps femoris muscle, and gastrocnemius, than any other muscles. Therefore, during the traditional Korean sweet workplace design in future, the workplace requires a posture that deeply bow wrist for a long time should be avoided.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.157-166
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• 2008

Protected horticulture is labor-intensive. It necessitates great amount of labor in many tasks including grafting, pollination and harvesting. Particularly, carrying crops involves the most intensive labor which leads to a high risk of musculoskeletal disorder. Thus, this study aims at developing an ergonomic vehicle to reduce this intensity of labor and ergonomic evaluation by applying the newly developed vehicles to REBA. 5 healthy male subjects with no records of any musculoskeletal disorder were participated in this study. The experimental units were divided into three categories: lifting, lowering and pushing tasks. The results showed that the developed vehicle received less loads in group B (arms and wrists) than in group A (trunk, neck and legs). Especially, the developed vehicle scored $1.0{\sim}4.4$ in group C on REBA while the conventional wheelbarrow got $3.0{\sim}7.6$, regardless of working postures. In conclusion, the developed ergonomic vehicle provided less loads for human bodies compared to the conventional one.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.83-90
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• 2016

Purpose : Recommended posture according to the location of operating teeth have been standardized in dental clinic to prevent musculoskeletal disorder. However, clinicians do not comply with this rule in many cases. This study investigated the effects of operating posture on cranio-cervical range of motion (CROM) and muscles activity of neck and upper extremity. Methods : Sixteen healthy dental hygiene students were participated. During operating posture (3 recommended and 3 experimental postures which were set front, side, back, respectively), CROM in the fronal and sagittal plane were measured by Cervical Range of Motion Instrument and muscle activities of Sternocleidomastoid, upper trapezius, middle deltoid, extensor carpi radialis, brachioradialis, and abductor pollicis brevis were measured by Pocket EMG system. Result : CROM were significantly decreased in recommended posture in comparison with experimental posture (p<.05). In addition, muscle activity of middle deltoid was significantly decreased in recommended front posture. Moreover, brachioradialis and extensor carpi radialis showed the same result in recommended back posture (p<.05). Conclusion : Recommended posture is close to neutral posture and to reduce muscle fatigue and overuse, which may considered as a preventing musculoskeletal disorder and partially explain its efficacy in dental clinic.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.22-40
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• 2008

Unnatural working postures usually cause musculoskeletal problems for workers in work field, especially in traditional industry. Many analysis and survey methodologies have been developed to identify unnatural postures and disorder risks in workplaces. The Ovako Working Posture Analyzing System (OWAS) and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) are the representative methods and applied widely. This study applied the both tools to investigate the work field of a manufacturing factory of the water heater's case. We divided the manufacturing process into nine workshops, took the pictures of working motions by DV camera and analyzed the postures on OWAS. From the OW AS results, we could identify the risks level of musculoskeletal symptoms as four Action Categories (AC). And from the comparison of OWAS and NMQ results, we could provide the suggestions to improve the working methods and environment. From the results of OWAS, we found that the operators' head/neck and back were above AC3 in some workshops. If the situation continued in long period, the operators might have the risk to get musculoskeletal symptoms. From the investigation of NMQ, we also found that the percentage of aches on neck, shoulders and lower back were higher than other parts of body. The correlation between aches and jobs was more than 75%. So we provided some suggestions to improve: work rotation and adjustment of work surface/height to fit in with Ergonomics. Then the risks of musculoskeletal symptoms would be reduced.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.171-181
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• 2009

This study was carried out to evaluate a musculoskeletal symptom and the work posture of the nurses in an operating room who have worked in the present department for more than one year. The job analysis of operating room nurses for ergonomic work posture analysis is divided into 14 tasks. On the basis of that, a survey research and ergonomic work posture analysis are also carried out. Among 41 operating room nurses of a cancer center in Kyonggi province who responded to the self-administered questionnaire, 20 nurses were observed and videorecorded to apply Rapid Entire Body Assessment(REBA) to ergonomic work posture analysis from April 16, 2007 to May 18, 2007. The results of analysis are as follows. The prevalence rate of musculoskeletal symptoms was 75.6% and its prevalence rates by part of the body are these followings; lower back and leg/foot 43.9%, shoulder 36.6%, neck 34.1%, hand/wrist/ finger 22.0%, arm/elbow 14.6%. In accordance with the results of ergonomic work posture analysis, 4 tasks that have a REBA score of 8 have high-risk levels and require an immediate management. It shows there is a significant correlation with overall musculoskeletal symptoms and objective workloads that are estimated by REBA. In conclusion, the work conditions of operating room nurses should be improved. It is also necessary that inappropriate work postures and ergonomic work conditions are improved to prevent musculoskeletal disorders of operating room nurses.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.192-202
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• 2018

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are accumulative disorders that are most frequently found in agricultural farmers. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that affect symptoms resulting from work-related musculoskeletal disorders among Cambodian farm workers working in fruit plantations in the eastern region of Thailand. Methods: The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment, and Hazard Zone Jobs Checklist techniques were used to interview 861 farmers who participated in the study. Results: The data showed that men who had been working for >10 years were more at risk of neck pain than those working for <1 year with adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.90, 14.5). Among women those who had been working for >10 years experienced lower back pain with aOR 8.13, 95% CI (1.04, 63.74), compared with those who had been working for <1 year. Men whose tasks required raising the arms above shoulder height had a risk factor contributing to neck pain of aOR 1.68, 95% CI (1.08, 2.61) when compared with those who did not work with this posture, and women had aOR 1.82, 95% CI (1.07, 3.12) when compared with those who did not work with this posture. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that work-related health conditions are monitored in migrant plantation workers to reduce the risks of musculoskeletal disorders.