• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 2014

Objective: This research focuses on the working environment of office workers and aims to propose an ideal seating posture and chair design. Background: Generally, office workers having to seat in a fixed posture for long periods of time tend to suffer from an increased rate of musculoskeletal disorders. Method: The measurement and survey of 123 office workers on their working conditions and literature survey will lead to a suggestion of an ideal seating posture and workstation design theory. Results: Work environment satisfaction appeared low for chair and desks. Work-related pain over the last year was experienced among 47.2% of the respondents in shoulder (34.2%), neck (30.9%). Observation of working posture revealed that only 27.6% of workers utilize backrest during work. Conclusion: Office work embodies many situations where risks of musculoskeletal disorders may be high. Thus, the seated workplace must be set up to allow proper seating posture for workers. Application: The results of this study can be applied as baseline data for preventing musculoskeletal disorders of office workers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.270-280
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• 2013

The Purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between congenital muscular torticollis and maternal work activity. This study was conducted with a total of 89 outpatient pregnant women whose child presented congenital muscular torticollis at the Department of Rehabilitation of "C" Hospital in Suwon within the period from 2006 to April 30, 2011. The results were as followings: (1) The mean age at the time of giving birth was 30.09years; the proportion of pregnant women with college education or higher was high; the proportion of first delivery was 82.0%; the most common way of delivery was natural childbirth, followed by Cesarean section and vacuum extraction; the proportion of breech delivery was 20.2%; and in 82.0% of the women, the first child had congenital muscular torticollis. (2) 59.6% of the women had a career; 45.3% had engaged in professional practice or had a related job; 75.5% had worked until the third trimester of their pregnancy; 54.7% had worked for seven hours or more in a seated position; and the mean number of working hours was 8.75 (3) The level of work-related stress was a low 25% or less, and in the subdivisions of work-related stress, only the level of strained relations belonged to the upper 50% or higher. (4) For the correlation between the survey respondents' job stress and job features, stress (full score: 100 points) showed a strong positive correlation with job demand, strained relations, inadequate reward, and workplace culture. Workplace also showed a strong positive correlation with inadequate reward. Mean daily working hours showed a strong positive correlation with mean weekly working hours.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2005

Evaluation of repetitiveness for upper extremity intensive tasks is essential to determine the level of risk for upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders at the workplace. However, experimental data available to establish the acceptable levels of repetitiveness for various postures and forces is lacking. The present study examined the maximum acceptable frequencies(MAFs; motions/min.) of shoulder, elbow, wrist, and index finger motions at different forces(1kgf and 4kgf for shoulder, elbow, and wrist; 0.25kgf and 1 kgf for index finger) in sitting. Seventeen right-handed males in 20s without having any history musculoskeletal disorders participated in the MAF experiment. The participants determined their MAFs for the upper extremity motions by using the self-adjustment method and their work pulse(increase in heart rate; beats/min.) and rating of perceived exertion(RPE) were measured when working at MAF. The MAFs of elbow, wrist, and index finger motions for each force level were about 2, 3, and 6 times the corresponding MAF(9 at the high force and 24 at the low force) of shoulder motion and the MAFs at the low force increased about 2 times those at the high force. The work pulses of elbow, wrist, and index finger motions for each force level were 70%, 50%, and 30% of the corresponding work pulse(17 at the high force and 12 at the low force) of shoulder motion and the work pulses at the low force were about 70 % of those at the high force. Lastly, the RPEs of the upper extremity regions were about level 3(moderate) or below.