• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.66-70
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• 2023

Background: Online teaching and learning extend the duration of using gadgets such as mobile phones and tablets. A prolonged usage of these gadgets in a static position can lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Therefore, this study aims to identify the risk factors related to musculoskeletal symptoms while using gadgets during work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A cross-sectional survey with online-based questionnaires was collected from the University of Indonesia, consisting of lecturers, students, and managerial staff. The minimum number of respondents was 1,080 and was defined by stratified random sampling. Furthermore, the dependent variable was musculoskeletal symptoms, while the independent were age, gender, job position, duration, activity when using gadgets, and how to hold them. Result: Most of the respondents had mobile phones but only 16% had tablets. Furthermore, about 56.7% have used a mobile phone for more than 10 years, while about 89.7% have used a tablet for less than 10 years. A multivariate analysis found factors that were significantly associated with MSD symptoms while using a mobile phone, such as age, gender, web browsing activity, work, or college activities. These activities include doing assignments and holding the phone with two hands with two thumbs actively operating. The factors that were significantly associated with MSD symptoms when using tablets were gender, academic position, social media activity, and placing the tablet on a table with two actively working index fingers. Conclusion: Therefore, from the results of this study it is necessary to have WFH and e-learning policies to reduce MSD symptoms and enhance productivity at work.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.671-685
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• 2012

Objective: This study aims to investigate subjects in recuperation to identify the following factors with regard to work-related musculoskeletal diseases: diagnosis in the context of occupational and environmental medicine; assessment systems for judging work-relatedness; recuperation management; workplace management; prevention programs; and care after returning to work. This study intends to analyze differences between subjects and determine what characteristics of subjects account for the differences. Method: A survey was administered to 1,664 workers who were approved by the Korea Worker's Compensation & Welfare Service between 2003 and 2005 for recuperation due to work-related musculoskeletal diseases. The data of 229 subjects who responded the survey questionnaire related to recuperation were analysed. Results: According to the results, demographic, occupational, and musculoskeletal disease-related factors were significant. The demographic factors included gender, age, marital status, and region, while occupational factors included working period, work type, size of workplace, and industry type. The factors related to musculoskeletal diseases were the part of the body in pain, the tissues in pain, and the existence of dysfunction. The above factors were associated with statistically significant differences in the following areas: revealed symptom period, symptoms-diagnosis period, and application for recuperation approval periods; diagnosis and care institutes for recuperarion; the state of patients (body parts in pain, tissues in pain, and existence of dysfunction); return to work; and care after returning to work. Conclusion: The results of this study can serve as basic data in setting priorities for prevention programs for work-related musculoskeletal diseases and selecting target groups.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.225-229
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• 2021

Background: The socioeconomic burden of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is significant, and kitchen work is a high-risk occupation for MSDs due to the intensive manual workload and repetitive movements that are involved. However, there are very few studies on MSDs and rest breaks as a workplace intervention among kitchen workers. This study examined the relationship between insufficient rest breaks and increased MSD risk among Korean kitchen workers. Methods: Sociodemographic and occupational factors of 1,909 kitchen workers were collected from the 3rd-4th Korean Working Conditions Survey data. Five items on rest breaks at work were categorized into two groups, "sufficient" and "insufficient." The number of MSDs and work-related MSDs (WMSDs), an outcome variable, was obtained from the sum of MSDs/WMSDs in three anatomical sites (back, neck, and upper limb, lower limb). The association between rest breaks and MSDs was estimated using zeroinflated negative binomial analyses, with adjustments for age, education level, and weekly working hours, and the analyses were stratified by sex. Results: After adjustment, significant associations were found between insufficient rest breaks and an increased risk of MSDs (odds ratio [OR] 1.68 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-2.54) and WMSDs (OR 1.40 95% CI 1.01-1.96) among female kitchen workers. Insufficient rest breaks were significantly associated with MSDs in female kitchen workers in all three anatomical sites. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the need for rest breaks as a workplace intervention for preventing MSDs in kitchen workers. Further studies to reveal the causality of this relationship are required.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.79-87
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• 2020

PURPOSE: Physical therapists are always exposed to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Although kinesio taping can support the joints and assist movement, studies of the effects of kinesio taping on these physical therapists are lacking. This study examined the effects of Kinesio-taping on pain, grip strength, range of motion and daily living skills in physical therapists with work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Pain was measured using a 100 mm VAS. The grip strength was measured using a handgrip dynamometer. The range of joint motion was measured using a goniometer. Living skills were measured by patient-rated wrist evaluation. METHODS: Twenty physical therapists with wrist pain (Kinesio taping: n = 10, Sham taping: n = 10) received taping for each group, and measured the pain, grip strength, range of motion and daily living skills before (Baseline) and after taping (Nine hours). RESULTS: All data were analyzed using Repeated Measure ANOVA (p < .05). In the Kinesio group, resting pain (-14.9), movement pain (-20.5), and daily living skills (-9.55) were improved significantly compared to the baseline (p < .05). The grip strength and range of motion were not changed (p > .05). The sham group showed no significant change in all variables (p > .05). CONCLUSION: Physical therapists with work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the wrist should apply kinesiotaping to improve the occupational tasks.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.51-61
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• 2010

This study aimed to evaluate musculoskeletal workload associated with the work of hair designers, to identify the factors associated with work-related stress, depression and musculoskeletal symptoms in Hair Designers, and to check the painful areas based on patients who complained of musculoskeletal symptoms. The data were collected from 279 hair designers in Daegu metropolitan city from February 1 to August 31 of 2009. A summary of the results was as follows : According to work-related stress in study subjects, the degree of stress load was relatively higher in association with the working demand, the relational conflicts and the organizational culture, but the degree of stress was found to be relatively lower in association with the physical environment, work-related autonomy, an insufficient compensation and an occupational instability. People engaged for beauty business have gotten lots of stress because of the endless needs from customers, the pressure of the learning new skills and the uncomfortable working environment. These are able to cause the musculoskeletal disorder. Under this circumstance, small fries do not have any prevention managements for improving the musculoskeletal diseases and they are not afforded to have regular checkup. When teaching the people related with beauty business, it is necessary to provide accurate information like correct carriage to reduce musculoskeletal disorder stress.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.728-735
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• 2022

Roofers get exposed to increased risk of knee musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) at different phases of a sloped shingle installation task. As different phases are associated with different risk levels, this study explored the application of machine learning for automated classification of seven phases in a shingle installation task using knee kinematics and roof slope information. An optical motion capture system was used to collect knee kinematics data from nine subjects who mimicked shingle installation on a slope-adjustable wooden platform. Four features were used in building a phase classification model. They were three knee joint rotation angles (i.e., flexion, abduction-adduction, and internal-external rotation) of the subjects, and the roof slope at which they operated. Three ensemble machine learning algorithms (i.e., random forests, decision trees, and k-nearest neighbors) were used for training and prediction. The simulations indicate that the k-nearest neighbor classifier provided the best performance, with an overall accuracy of 92.62%, demonstrating the considerable potential of machine learning methods in detecting shingle installation phases from workers knee joint rotation and roof slope information. This knowledge, with further investigation, may facilitate knee MSD risk identification among roofers and intervention development.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.71-78
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• 2011

The aim of study was to reduce risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders, and prevent it according to evaluation and analysis of its symptoms survey, and work postures which doing much frequently. This study was conducted by 64 firefighters. It was surveyed physical burden levels, distribution of musculoskeletal symptoms, and analized work postures by using ergonomics tools, such as Rapid Entire Body Assesment(REBA), Rapid Upper Lim Assessment(RULA), NIOSH Lifting Equation(NLE). Physical burden levels, and distribution of musculoskeletal symptoms were surveyed according to frequency analysis, and the analysis of above tools were presented figures and scores. The all the results of REBA were that risk level was "High", action level was "Need soon" and the results of RULA were "The results are required detailed survey and immediate improvement" at Require rescue person handling, fire hose, hybraulic rescue equipment, universal axe work postures. The occurrence possibility of musculoskeletal disorders of fire fighters is quite high due to instability postures, excessive physical work and so on. Thus, making various efforts to prevent disorders, and improving working environment is necessary continuously.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.385-397
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• 2006

A high prevalence of farmer's work-related musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) have been reported in precedent studies. To offer the basic data for reducing the melon farmer's MSDs, a questionnaire survey about MSDs symptoms and work loaded body part and video analysis by 3 checklist(REBA, RULA, OWAS) for musculoskeletal risk assessment were carried. 94 melon farmers for this questionnaire and 1 typical farm for risk assessment were participated. A total of 80.9% of the farmers reported musculoskeletal symptoms and 60.6% reported musculoskeletal symptoms over NIOSH standard. The mainly symptom body part is low back, knee and shoulders. Main risk factors in melon farm are awkward postures, heavey/frequent lifting and repetitive hand/arm motions. The high risk tasks induced by video analysis were harvesting, removing the sprouts and covering with rags. These result can be used practically for planning intervention strategy and programs to prevent farmer's MSDs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.209-214
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• 2011

Objectives: To assess the risk of pushing or pulling the yarn-carrying cart, the survey was performed in some fiber manufacturing factories. Methods: We selected 6 fiber-twisting factories which agreed to in-site survey of their workplace. To measure both initial and sustained forces of the push-pull tasks, Chatillon CSD500 dynamometer(2004, Ametek, USA) was used. The mean of 3 tests for the same cart was adopted as the measured forces. Height and width of cart, weight of spooled yarns, and distance of movement were also measured. Inspection of cart wheel, moving path, and the actual hand position while moving was done. Results: More than one pushing or pulling task exceeded the push-pull force limits of design goal in 5 factories. Though the cart was not loaded the heaviest weight in the factory, the measured push or pull force exceeded the limits several times. A few cart wheels were worn out and tangled with pieces of yarn. It was also observed some holes in the moving path. Conclusions: While the push-pull task is not included in the 11 scopes of over-burdened work notified by Korean government, it should be recognized as risk factor of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The maintenance work such as regular change and frequent cleaning of cart wheel, the use of fitting wheel, and flattening of bumpy floor through the moving path should be advised importantly in the worksite management of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.447-454
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• 2023

Objective: This study aims to investigate the impact of changes in working conditions on job-related stress and musculoskeletal disorders using the results of seven surveys conducted at a single workplace from 2004 to 2022 regarding factors hazardous to the musculoskeletal system. Additionally, the study aims to propose alternative methods of investigating factors hazardous to the musculoskeletal system. Methods: A car parts manufacturing plant where the same survey was taken seven times from 2004 to 2022 was selected and the survey data was analyzed. The main contents of the survey were weekly working hours, Borg's scale, work intensity, job-related stress, and the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. The statistical analysis was performed using SAS (version 9.4). Results: The results of this study are as follows. Firstly, changes in working conditions have an impact on job-related stress. Secondly, changes in working conditions have an impact on work intensity indicators. Thirdly, changes in working conditions have an impact on the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Fourthly, even with an increase in age and length of service, job-related stress and musculoskeletal symptoms were alleviated when working conditions were improved. Conclusions: In order for measures to reduce musculoskeletal disorders to be successful, working conditions must not deteriorate, and it is necessary to demand revisions to regulations, etc. to reflect these points in the investigation of hazardous factors to the musculoskeletal system.