Abstract
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are highly prevalent in the supermarket sector with manual material handling being one of the most commonly identified occupational risk factors. This cross-sectional study applied inertial motion capture and electromyography (EMG) to measure full-body kinematics and muscle activity of trapezius descendens and erector spinae longissimus during 50 manual material handling tasks performed by 17 workers in two supermarkets. The handling of bread and cucumbers to high shelf heights showed the highest trapezius muscle activity (from 47% to 59% peak normalized EMG), while the handling of bananas as well as lifting milk, bread and cucumbers from low to high positions showed the highest erector spinae activity (from 59% to 71%). Twenty-two tasks involved flexing the shoulders and trunk more than 90° and 50°, respectively. Based on these results, several manual handling practices in supermarkets should be reconsidered to reduce the physical work demands.
Highlights
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMD) are multifactorial in nature and are associated with physical, psychosocial and individual factors (Waters, 2001; Hernandez et al, 2012), which is one of several reasons why it has been difficult to achieve a clear scientific consensus on causality
This cross-sectional study applied inertial motion capture and electromyography (EMG) to measure full-body kinematics and muscle activity of trapezius descendens and erector spinae longissimus during 50 manual material handling tasks performed by 17 workers in two supermarkets
For the inertial motion capture (IMC) data, a total of 78 trials were either missing or excluded: 32 trials were missing as the task FV2 and FV3 were not placed on both shelves for subject 2 and 3, and 16 trials missing as FV3 was not lifted from both starting positions for subject 12 and 17
Summary
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMD) are multifactorial in nature and are associated with physical, psychosocial and individual factors (Waters, 2001; Hernandez et al, 2012), which is one of several reasons why it has been difficult to achieve a clear scientific consensus on causality. MMH is prevalent in many industries, such as construction, trans portation and retail (Heran-Le Roy et al, 1999). Among these industries, the supermarket or grocery sector (i.e. supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores etc.), which is typically included under the umbrella category “retail”, have received little attention in the scientific litera ture. Forcier et al (2008) found that in a one-year period, 131 supermarket workers reported 140 musculoskeletal injuries, accounting for 63% of all compensable
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