• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.1 s.41
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• pp.20-36
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• 1993

Work-related low back pain is one of the major factors that cause the loss of working power especially in actively working age, therefore controlling the work-related low back pain is one of the major issues in the field of industrial safety and health. This study was performed for detecting the risk factors and proposing the efficient control program of the work-related low back pain. The subjects were male workers employed at the manufacturing industry in Pusan with longer than 6 months' working duration. The data was collected by self-reported questionnaire and interview from May 1 to October 31,1992. The contents of questionnaire were as follows:. the experience of low back pain within the recent one month, general characteristics(age, marital status, education level, religion, regular exercise), physical characteristics(height, weight), employment status(working duration, daily working hours, rest during work, satis(action fur the job), type of work and working environments(posture, forward bending, lifting and movement, satisfaction for table and chair). The result was analyzed for 608 entire respondents by case-control comparative method. The number of cases was 152 with a history of work-related low back pain, so the relative frequency of self-reported work-related low back pain was 25.0%, and the number of controls was 344 without any history of low back pain. As a result, two characteristics of the employment status(working duration, satisfaction fur the job) and all characteristics of type of work and working environments showed a statistical significance between the case and control groups(p<0.01). The Oddb ratios of these variables for Work-related low back pain were calculated. They were 7.88 for the satisfaction fur chair, 7.86 for lifting and movement,3.31 for satisfaction for table, and 2.22 fur bending forward(p<0.01). And for the multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that unsatisfaction for table was independent risk factor for Work-related low back pain. In summary, though this study was based upon the self-reported questionnaire and the subjective complaints, the satisfaction for chair, lifting and movement, satisfaction for table, and bending forward concerned with the type of work and working environments were considered as the main factors causing the work-related low back pain, and the work-related low back pain may be preventable by the ergonomic control of these factors.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.485-494
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• 2016

Purpose: The present research is a descriptive study aimed at understanding clinical nurses' Video display terminal (VDT) syndrome and identifying the factors that affect their VDT syndrome. Methods: Data were collected from 239 clinical nurses working in two metropolitan cities. Research tools included subject's VDT syndrome assessing musculoskeletal, ophthalmic, dermal, psychiatric, and whole body syndromes. The data were analyzed using frequency analysis, average and standard deviation, t-test, One-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis with the SPSS/WIN 20.0 program. Results: The subjects' VDT syndrome score was 1.34 out of 5. There were significant differences in participating subjects' VDT syndrome, hospital's size, working unit, health status, diagnosis of illness, having an Order Communication System (OCS), having an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System, continuous VDT working for more than one hour, break time during VDT use, VDT use time, comfort of the chair, adjustability of the height of the chair, size of the VDT's desk, distance between the monitor and the user's eyes, resolution of the monitor, and frequency of eye exercise during VDT use. According to the research, influencing factors on VDT syndrome in clinical nurses included size of the VDT's desk, frequency of eye exercise during VDT use, having an EMR system, break time during VDT use, diagnosis illness, and having an OCS' system. Conclusion: The findings from this study can be used as a basis for future VDT syndrome prevention education and programs for clinical nurses.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.21 no.4 s.62
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• pp.19-28
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to investigate the related factor for the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among 212 sewing worker. The survey was performed with self-administered questionnaire for the risk factors related to musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) from August 5 to 7 in 2005. The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms were 75.8% and the those of the local symptoms were 71.7 % for shoulder, 60.4 % for neck, 35.8 % for arm and 50.9 % for wrist. The risk factors related the self-reported MSDs had not shown in general characteristics. But, there was a significant difference between daily working hour and wrist, working speed and neck, the degree of satisfaction and wrist for work related factor. Also, it was shown the significant difference between chair height and neck, the height of sewing machine and wrist among the space below work station, neck, waist for the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. The significant correlation was shown for daily working hour and wrist, working speed and arm, work load and shoulder and the degree of satisfaction and arm for work related subjective symptom. Considering above results, it is suggested the ergonomic design be provided to working hour, the height of chair and work station as well as daily working hour even there is a significant difference for the prevalence of symptoms in each body part for sewing workers.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

Objective: This study identifies the difference among the heights of a chair's backrest (High, Mid, No), the biomechanical changes chair users undergo over time, and the variables that can measure musculoskeletal disorders, eventually providing information on the appropriate type of backrest. Method: Eleven healthy subjects in their 20s and 30s who had no experience with musculoskeletal disorders or surgical operations within the last 6 months participated in this study. Computer typing tasks were randomly designated and performed according to the type of chair backrest, and evaluation was performed for Flexion-Relaxation Ratio (FRR) analysis after the computer typing tasks. This study used eight infrared cameras (sampling rate: 100 Hz) and nine-channel electromyography (sampling rate: 1,000 Hz). ANOVA with repeated measures was conducted to verify the results, with the statistical significance level being α = .05. Results: Although there was no significant difference in craniovertebral angle (CVA), this study showed time and interaction effects depending on the height of the backrest (p<.05). When working without the backrest, the head-spine angle was lower compared to the chairs with backrest, based on the computer work. As for the head angle, the higher the back of the chair was, the less the head flexion and the body angle became, whereas the body flexion became less when there was a backrest. In addition, the body flexion increased over time in all types of backrests (p<.05). The muscle activity of the upper body tended to be high in the high backrest chair. On the other hand, a lower muscle activity was found with a low backrest. Conclusion: These results show that a chair is more ergonomic when the body angle is correctly set without bending and when it is supported by a low backrest. Accordingly, this study determines that the backrest affects shoulder and neck musculoskeletal disorders during typing and that medium-height backrest chairs can help prevent musculoskeletal disorders, contrary to the expectation that high-backrest chairs are preferable.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.181-184
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• 2008

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.415-427
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the thermoregulatory responses to postures under different environmental conditions and to obtain the basal information for standard clothing weight, indoor climates, and working condition. Two adult female (22.5yrs, 46kg) were participated in this study. The experimental conditions were divided into three groups ; 1) comfort($27{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, $60{\pm}10%$), 2) hot($34{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, $60{\pm}10%$), and 3) cold($21{\pm}1^{\circ}C$, $50{\pm}10%$) condition. The postures performed were as follows; standing, sitting on the chair, sitting on the floor, and supine on the floor. At each condition, subjective sensations, 12 points skin temperature, rectal temperature, total and local sweat rate, pulse rates, blood pressure, skin blood flow rate were measured. The results were as follows : 1. Rectal temperature was high significant among groups in order of supine, sitting on the floor, sitting on the chair, standing posture(p<0.01). 2. Skin temperature was high in part of contact with the surface of the floor or wall and the effect of posture was greater in peripheral temperature than torso temperature. Sitting on the chair and sitting on the floor posture showed higher peripheral temperature than standing and supine posture. And peripheral temperature was lower in supine posture than any other postures. 3. Total and local sweat rate were decreased in order of standing, sitting on the chair, sitting on the floor, supine posture. 4. Pulse rate and disastolic blood pressure were higher in standing posture than supine posture, and there was significant difference between two postures(p<0.001). 5. Blood flow rate of thigh was high in sitting on the chair and sitting on the floor posture and low in standing posture. Blood flow rate of leg was low in standing posture significantly(p<0.01). 6. In comfort and hot condition, temperature sensation and comfort sensation were higher in standing posture and lower in supine posture than any other postures. In cold condition, temperature sensation was lower and comfort sensation was higher in standing and supine posture than any other postures. And supine posture was appeared positive in hot condition and negative in cold condition. From this study, we confirmed the effects of posture on human thermoregulatory responses. Results indicate that even under same conditions and clothing weight, the insulation of clothing will be different to postures.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.469-474
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• 2013

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the risk factors of MSDs for the types of office work. Background: Physical risk factors of VDT(Video Display Terminal) associated with shoulder and neck musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) include static work postures and workstation status. Method: In this study, office work was divided into data search, data entry and design work(drawings, etc.), and then we were surveyed 7 major work places which was included these works. We recorded working postures and obtained still images, depending on the types of office work. Then, RULA(Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) and ROSA(Rapid Office Strain Assessment) were used to analysis the risk factors. Results: The results of RULA showed that design work was under risk levels and required change, but ROSA showed that data entry and design work were high risk. The RULA is to evaluate the level of risk factors based on the working posture; on the other hand, the ROSA is to consider the use of peripheral, same as chair, keyboard/mouse, monitor and computer workstations. Conclusion: Conclusions of this study, the office work is necessary to identify the risk factors caused by the use of peripheral, as well as working posture.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 1997

This study was to design the clean room garment which fits for a body and adjusts well to the action. We examined the body's changes in action through a body measurment and made a sample of the clean room garment to which had adapted the body's changes in action and evaluated the function and the appearance compared with the existing the clean room garment. The followings were summery of the results : 1. Back intersyce breadth decreased, trunk length increased and the other parts were not change. At a posture of raising hands($M_3$) in comparison with an upright posture($M_0$). Back intersyce breadth, hip length and knee length increased and the other parts were a little change. At a bowing posture($M_2$) in comparison with an upright posture($M_0$). Back hip girth, knee length, hip length and leg length increased and the other parts were not change. At a working posture on a chair($M_1$) in comparison with an upright posture($M_0$). 2. The overall clean room garment was made increasing on the changes of part of a body through measuring and body measurement. 3. From the test of the function, it became known that the devised clean room garment was superior to the existing one in the parts of neck, shoulder, armpit and elbow at a working posture on a chair($M_1$), in the parts of neck, shoulder, and armpit at a bowing posture($M_2$), and the armpit at a posture of raising hands($M_3$). The appearance was better on the whole. 4. From the examination of photographs, the waist line of the devised clean room garment was not so much pulled up as that of the existing one on moving. And when sitting down on a chair, the waist line of the existing one was pulled down while that of the devised one had no change. As above, we investigated the actual conditions of wearing the clean room garment and measured the body's changes according the various actions. So we applied these results to the devised clean room garment but we couldn't research the clean mom effect of it owing to not obtaining the measuring instrument. The aspect of ergonomics liked the feeling of wearing and fitted to the action must be given consideration to the clean room garment, and simultaneously the dust-resistant effect must be taken into consideration in order to improve the quality of the goods. Therefore, we think it should be continued the research on the dust-resistant effect, material, washing method, quality control, and size along with the aspect of ergonomics.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.55-66
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• 2009

Background: The purpose of this research was to investigate the factors affecting the low back pain of workers in hospital. 214 subjects waking at two general hospitals in Yosu city participated in this survey. Subjects consisted of doctors, nurses, medical engineers, officers and general laborers. The survey data were collected by a written questionnaire which made out by themselves for 25 days, from fourth August to 29th August, 2008. Methods: The questionnaire consisted of four categories, general, occupational, working habitual and the daily living characteristics. The collected data were analyzed by Chi-square test based on the present or absent of low back pain. Results: 1. In the general characteristics, low back pain had no significant relationship to all factors, sex, ago, body mass index, weight and height. 2. In the occupational characteristics, the phase of distribution of low back pain had statistical significant differences in the working hours a week, satisfaction of pay, satisfaction of occupation(p<0.05). However low back pain did not significantly related to the kind of occupation, period of work and degree of stress. 3. In the habitual characteristics, low back pain was significantly influenced by working posture, frequency of using lumbar and heavy material lifting, monotonous repetition of working operation and noise(p<0.05). No significant difference was shown in the factor of convenience of chair. 4. In the daily living characteristics, low back pain shown the significant differences in walking time a day, status of health and smoking pattern(p<0.05). there were, however, no significant differences in the aspect of the kind of house and bed, sleeping attitude, driving, riding time on the vehicle, exercising, frequency of cultural life and drinking alcohol. Conclusion: when I see above resultants totally, it appears a higher incidence caused by working environment rather than living habit and then consequently compared to hospital workers, they also have high incidence like others. In order to reduce incidence of low back pain and enjoy the our life we need to educate ourselves preventing program for low back pain and try to effort for preventing of low back pain on each department and individual.