Automated high-frequency posture sampling for ergonomic assessment of laparoscopic surgery.

BACKGROUND

Despite widespread acknowledgement that strain injuries do occur to surgeons, ergonomic assessments in minimally invasive surgery are comparatively rare. Current assessment techniques rely on labor-intensive manual recording techniques, so there is a need for an automated system.

METHODS

We used an optoelectronic measurement system to make postural measurements at frequencies of ~5 Hz and then converted these measurements to ergonomic stress scores using a modified Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method.

RESULTS

We successfully recorded postures at least once per second during 96% of the time the surgeon was performing tissue manipulation tasks. We found that the ergonomic stress scores were comparatively high throughout the procedure, particularly for the wrist.

CONCLUSION

An automated high-frequency postural measurement system is feasible for making ergonomic assessments in an intraoperative setting. Such a system will also be a critical component in validating surgical simulations for use in training and credentialing surgeons and in designing and evaluating equipment.