Shafti Ali, Lazpita Beatriz Urbistondo, Elhage Oussama, Wurdemann Helge A, Althoefer Kaspar
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2016 Aug;2016:1894-1897. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2016.7591091.
Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are a serious risk to workers' health in any work environment, and especially in clinical work places. These disorders are typically the result of prolonged exposure to non-ergonomic postures and the resulting discomfort in the workplace. Thus a continuous assessment of comfort and ergonomics is necessary. There are different techniques available to make such assessments, such as self-reports on perceived discomfort and observational scoring models based on the posture's relevant joint angles. These methods are popular in medical and industrial environments alike. However, there are uncertainties with regards to objectivity of these methods and whether they provide a full picture. This paper reports on a study about these methods and how they correlate with the activity of muscles involved in the task at hand. A wearable 4-channel electromyography (EMG) and joint angle estimation device with wireless transmission was made specifically for this study to allow continuous, long-term and real-time measurements and recording of activities. N=10 participants took part in an experiment involving a buzz-wire test at 3 different levels, with their muscle activity (EMG), joint angle scores (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment - RULA), self-reports of perceived discomfort (Borg scale) and performance score on the buzz-wire being recorded and compared. Results show that the Borg scale is not responsive to smaller changes in discomfort whereas RULA and EMG can be used to detect more detailed changes in discomfort, effort and ergonomics.
与工作相关的肌肉骨骼疾病（WMSD）在任何工作环境中，尤其是临床工作场所，都会对工人的健康构成严重风险。这些疾病通常是由于长时间处于不符合人体工程学的姿势以及由此导致的工作场所不适所致。因此，有必要持续评估舒适度和人体工程学。有多种技术可用于进行此类评估，例如关于感知不适的自我报告以及基于姿势相关关节角度的观察评分模型。这些方法在医疗和工业环境中都很受欢迎。然而，这些方法在客观性以及是否能全面反映情况方面存在不确定性。本文报告了一项关于这些方法以及它们与手头任务中涉及的肌肉活动如何关联的研究。专门为这项研究制作了一种具有无线传输功能的可穿戴4通道肌电图（EMG）和关节角度估计设备，以允许对活动进行连续、长期和实时的测量与记录。N = 10名参与者参加了一项实验，该实验涉及在3个不同难度水平下进行的蜂鸣线测试，同时记录并比较他们的肌肉活动（EMG）、关节角度评分（快速上肢评估 - RULA）、感知不适的自我报告（Borg量表）以及在蜂鸣线测试中的表现得分。结果表明，Borg量表对较小的不适变化不敏感，而RULA和EMG可用于检测不适、用力和人体工程学方面更详细的变化。
