National Research Centre for the Working Environment, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Research Unit for Muscle Physiology and Biomechanics, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5230 Odense, Denmark.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 4;19(5):3030. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19053030.
High physical work demands increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders and sickness absence. Supermarket work involves a high amount of manual material handling. Identifying specific ergonomic risk factors is an important part of occupational health and safety efforts in the supermarket sector. In this cross-sectional field study among 64 supermarket workers, we used electromyography during the workday to determine the influence of lifting height and load mass on muscular workload of the low-back and neck/shoulder muscles during un-restricted manual material handling (grocery stocking). We found a significant effect of load mass, i.e., higher loads associated with higher muscular workload in the low-back and neck/shoulder muscles. We demonstrated a significant interaction between start and end position, i.e., lifts performed from 'Low' start positions to 'High' end positions demonstrated the highest low-back muscular workload, whereas 'High' positions were associated with increased neck/shoulder workload. In conclusion, lifting higher loads and lifting goods from low to high positions (low-back) and at high positions (neck/shoulder) are associated with higher muscular workload. These results can be used to guide highly warranted preventive initiatives to reduce the physical workload during supermarket work.
高体力工作需求增加了肌肉骨骼疾病和病假的风险。超市工作涉及大量的手动搬运物料。识别特定的人体工程学风险因素是超市行业职业健康和安全工作的重要组成部分。在这项针对 64 名超市工人的横断面现场研究中，我们在工作日期间使用肌电图来确定在不受限制的手动搬运物料（杂货补货）过程中，提升高度和负载质量对下背部和颈肩肌肉肌肉工作量的影响。我们发现负载质量有显著影响，即较高的负载与下背部和颈肩肌肉的较高肌肉工作量相关。我们还证明了起始位置和结束位置之间存在显著的相互作用，即从“低”起始位置提升到“高”结束位置会导致下背部肌肉的最大工作量，而“高”位置与颈肩肌肉工作量增加相关。总之，搬运更高的负载以及从低到高的位置（下背部）和高位置（颈肩）搬运货物会导致肌肉工作量增加。这些结果可用于指导非常有必要的预防措施，以减少超市工作中的体力工作量。
