• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.91-96
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• 2010

Purpose: Among computer users, the awkward posture and workstation setups of workers contribute to work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a traditional physical therapy and ergonomic intervention by physical therapists in 4 computer users. Methods: After checking Visual Analogue Scores (VAS), four subjects who were treated by physical therapy for neck and shoulder problems related to VDT syndrome were enrolled in the study. All subjects spent at least 40 hours per week at a computer workstation. All subjects had pain and ergonomic states evaluated using methods such as VAS, Neck Disability Index (NDI), Workstyle short form, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and OSHA VDT checklist (Occupational Safety and Health Administration video display terminal) before a physical therapy + ergonomic intervention. Participants were re-evaluated 1 month later. Results: Participants showed more improvement of their neck pain after being treated with a physical therapy plus ergonomic intervention than when treatment consisted only of physical therapy. Improvements in RULA, Workstyle short form, and OSHA VDT checklist also were achieved. Conclusion: This case study suggests the importance of examining the work habits and work-related postures of subjects who complain of neck and shoulder pain that is exacerbated by computer use. Personalized ergonomic interventions and physical therapy can lead to improvement of patients with VDT syndrome.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.4523-4530
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• 2011

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of stretching management on musculoskeletal joint pain in community indwelling elderly farmers. The study included 28 residents who lived in a rural community. All participants were assigned randomly to either the stretching group (n=13, $59.67{\pm}4.77$ year-old) or the control group (n=15, $61.44{\pm}10.41$ year-old). Respondents were interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire. Pain severity of 6 body areas caused by symptoms of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and pain severity on day time variations were measured by the visual analogue scale on a self-assessed questionnaire. The stretching group was administered stretching therapy (45 min, 2 sets, warming up and cool down, main exercise; total 19 stretching kinds of subset 5 fields) for 12 times for 4 weeks. There were no significant difference between the two groups in general social and pain characteristics. After 4 weeks of stretching, the stretching group showed significant improvements at almost all joint pain scores except arm/elbow, and day time variation scores of pain compared to both baseline scores, and with control group scores. These results showed that stretching therapy is one of the most useful modalities to manage musculoskeletal pain in community-based elderly farmers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.234-243
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and work-related factors of these symptoms in dental hygienists. The self-administered questionnaire was surveyed and collected from August 1-12 of 2011 targeting 210 dental hygienists Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daegu, Pohang. Except 5 people whose responses are not clear and who suffered accident, the analysis was made on 205 people. Data analysis was performed using the chi square test and multiple logistic regression analysis using the SPSS WIN(ver 18.0) program, RULA and, REBA. The overall Experience rate of musculoskeletal symptoms was 95.6% (196/205). The specific Experience rate of musculoskeletal symptoms for different regions of the body were as follows:The highest was shown 82.4% in Neck-shoulders(R), 78% in Neck, 69.8% in shoulders(R), 66.3%in Wrist(R). Therefore, Improvements of working environments in dental clinics are needed to prevent musculoskeletal disease development in dental hygienists.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.405-411
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• 2013

Objective: Product design process without considering the strength of the user can cause the excessive burden on musculoskeletal system of human body. Since the muscle strength will vary depending on the body posture, the design of product should consider the characteristics of body posture. This study was performed to investigate the effects of forearm postures on the push and pull strength. Background: Overexerted force has been identified to cause musculoskeletal disorders. It is important to know the push and pull strength exerted by human when designing so that exerted force does not exceed the safety limits. Method: Maximum isometric push and pull strength of left, right and both hands were measured according to forearm postures with pronation, neutral and supination. For the study, 66 male and 30 female undergraduate students were participated as subjects. All subjects were normal and healthy with no clinical history. Results: The results showed that the push strength of male and female were 93.3% and 85.4% of pull strength. It showed that the strength of one-hand was 72.1~81.0% of the strength of two-hands, and the strength of left hand was 93.1~95.8% of the strength of right hand. The strength of female was 62% of the one of male. It was found that the strength with pronation $90^{\circ}$ was reduced up to 20% compared to the strength with neutral posture. Conclusion: Push and pull strength of male and female were reduced when forearm was rotated extremely. Application: The results of this study will be used for the prevention of work related musculoskeletal disorders and design of industrial equipment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.20 no.1 s.69
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• pp.143-147
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• 2005

Immediate responsibilities for occupational health and safety (OHS) management reside in business proprietors and supervisors whose voluntary participation in OHS educational programs, not legal sanctions, may thus lead to safe and pleasant work environments. This study investigates how to promote the effectiveness of OHS educational programs to draw voluntary participations in such programs in Korea To this end, drawbacks of current practices in OHS education are first analyzed, and then OHS related policies in advanced countries in the area of disaster prevention such as United States and Germany, are also scrutinized. Based on the preliminary investigations, the following propositions are made to lay out the foundation for promoting effective OHS educational programs in Korea: improvement of government regulations, revitalizing job training initiatives, on-site OHS education, compensation and incentive programs for OHS education. These propositions may also facilitate the deployment of disaster prevention activities across the organization and prevent various occupational disorders (for example, musculoskeletal disorders). This study emphasizes that monolithic OHS education systems led by regulatory agencies may not be efficient to ensure healthy and safe work environments. Globally competitive OHS educational systems may be established only when they are based on the health and safety requirements specified by proprietors and workers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.79-84
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• 2011

There have been so many studies related to job stress or musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) in the shipbuilding industry. However, study of employee performance evaluation that reflect on the industrial features of the deckhouse manufacturing industry has not been established. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate workers' job stress and work ability through statistical significance tests according to age, work types, years of service, work forms and sex. For this, the study conducted a job stress test using the Korean Occupational Stress Questionnaire Short Form, and employee performance evaluations using the Work Ability Index(WAI) of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) on 536 workers in the deckhouse manufacturing industry. MINITAB statistics program was used for statistics analysis and significance was verified with the Kruskal-Wallis test, a corporate body of nonparametric statistical analysis. As a result, employee performance had significant differences, depending on age, work types, years of service and sex, and job stress also depended on the number of service year and work form. Additionally, it was found that employee performance decreased more as job stress increased.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.77-82
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• 2009

This paper objected which prevented the accident occurrence of the related farm work, and developed the evaluation indicators for safety supervision on life environment of farmer and farm work to evaluate the health of farm worker and a musculoskeletal disorders. We selected the evaluation item to 82 items for executing the secondary Delphi investigation and the literature research which composed the farm work relationship specialist conference. We applied the index production of the evaluation indicators to decide the detailed element weight from the element which is farm work, the farm machine and the organization, farm workshop, dangerous substance, and life environment through the AHP techniques. Through the result, we can apply other ergonomic evaluation instrument of farm work field, but also the evaluation indicators for safety supervision on farm work.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.131-135
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• 2012

Objective: The aim of this study is to gain an overview of the ergonomic research trends in the shipbuilding industry. Background: The number of ergonomic studies on the shipbuilding industry has increased significantly in recent years. Method: Various ergonomic papers on the shipbuilding industry have been reviewed to find ergonomic research trends. Results: The tendency observed in these studies shows that the work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) is the most important research subject in the shipbuilding industry. Conclusion: The previous studies, focused on the physical aspects of the work, are now replaced by studies such as organizational and psychophysical studies. Application: These results can be used to provide baseline information for ergonomic research in the shipbuilding industry.

• IE interfaces
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.222-228
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• 2003

Computer-dominated jobs and industrial automation have rapidly created work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) and WMSDs are also founded in employees of other general industries. WMSDs has been growing problems for Korean industries with higher incidence rate every year. The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of the neck muscle workload according to postures(joint angle) and load weights. Seven male students participated in this study. Neck workload was rated on each person using a Borg's CR-10 scale. ANOVA showed that the CR-10 ratings were statistically significant according to postures and load weights. To reduce the large number and severity of WMSDs, which employees have been experiencing, we need to redesign the job in workplace so that we can control hazards that are reasonably likely to be causing or contributing to the WMSDs. The results of this study can be used to establish the safety criteria of joint angle and weight of neck workload.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.87-101
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• 2006

This paper was concerned about case study for preventing WMDSs(Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders) by using Thinking Process of TOC(Theory Of Constraints), Unfortunately, the number of WMDSs are rising steadily in auto-part manufacturer. These WMDSs have on worse and worse influence not only on the competition of enterprise but on the life quality of a worker. The research results are helpful to establish the preventing WMDSs and improvement of workplace environments for small-medium sized auto-part company.