Abstract
Background: In order to reduce the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) several methods have been developed, accepted by the international literature and used in the workplace. The purpose of this systematic review was to describe recent implementations of wearable sensors for quantitative instrumental-based biomechanical risk assessments in prevention of WMSDs. Methods: Articles written until 7 May 2018 were selected from PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science using specific keywords. Results: Instrumental approaches based on inertial measurement units and sEMG sensors have been used for direct evaluations to classify lifting tasks into low and high risk categories. Wearable sensors have also been used for direct instrumental evaluations in handling of low loads at high frequency activities by using the local myoelectric manifestation of muscle fatigue estimation. In the field of the rating of standard methods, on-body wireless sensors network-based approaches for real-time ergonomic assessment in industrial manufacturing have been proposed. Conclusions: Few studies foresee the use of wearable technologies for biomechanical risk assessment although the requirement to obtain increasingly quantitative evaluations, the recent miniaturization process and the need to follow a constantly evolving manual handling scenario is prompting their use.
Highlights
In order to reduce the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) several methods have been developed, accepted by the international literature and used in the workplace
After removing duplicates, 7221 references were retrieved and screened for eligibility based on their titles (Figure 1)
Articles were excluded due to the facts that wearable devices were not used in biomechanical risk assessment or they were not used in work activities, biomechanical risk assessment methods were not instrumental, there was no instrumental assessment of work activities, movement analysis was not in the work activities or instrumental approaches were not used
Summary
In order to reduce the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) several methods have been developed, accepted by the international literature and used in the workplace. Wearable sensors have been used for quantitative instrumental-based biomechanical risk assessments in the prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). In the attempt to reduce the risk of WMSDs while handling materials, handling people in the healthcare sector or while maintaining fixed postures, several methods have been developed, accepted by the international literature and used in the workplace. These approaches have without doubt facilitated prevention activities during the last decades by improving occupational health and safety of people at work but, on the other hand, need a significant update based on two main aspects.
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