School of Nutrition and Public Health, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States.
Department of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United States.
Appl Ergon. 2025 Jan;122:104402. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2024.104402. Epub 2024 Oct 19.
Heavy vehicle operators suffer from increased fall risk, potentially due to exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) that compromises postural control. This study aimed to characterize the relative impacts of multi-axial WBV vs. vertical-dominant WBV on dynamic postural control during sit-to-stand transition and stair descent, following prolonged vibration exposures. We also compared the effectiveness of a standard (single-axial passive suspension) seat with a multi-axial active suspension seat intervention. Vertical-dominant WBV adversely affected dynamic postural control. However, multi-axial WBV had no added adverse effects on postural control compared to vertical-dominant WBV. The multi-axial active suspension system did not outperform the standard seat in mitigating vibration effects on postural control during exposures but led to faster recovery during breaks between exposures. Overall, our results confirmed the negative effects of WBV on dynamic postural control but did not detect any additional negative effects associated with multi-axial WBV when compared to vertical-dominant WBV.
重型车辆操作人员面临更高的跌倒风险，这可能是由于全身振动（WBV）暴露导致姿势控制受损。本研究旨在描述多轴向 WBV 与垂直主导 WBV 对坐姿到站转换和楼梯下降期间动态姿势控制的相对影响，这些影响是在长时间的振动暴露后出现的。我们还比较了标准（单轴向被动悬架）座椅和多轴向主动悬架座椅干预的效果。垂直主导 WBV 对动态姿势控制产生了不利影响。然而，与垂直主导 WBV 相比，多轴向 WBV 对姿势控制没有增加不良影响。多轴向主动悬架系统在减轻振动对暴露期间姿势控制的影响方面并不优于标准座椅，但在暴露之间的休息期间，有助于更快恢复。总的来说，我们的结果证实了 WBV 对动态姿势控制的负面影响，但与垂直主导 WBV 相比，没有检测到与多轴向 WBV 相关的任何额外负面影响。
