Occupational Musculoskeletal Diseases Research Articles

Cerrahlarda fiziksel iş yükünün servikal sagittal dengeye etkisi

Amaç: Cerrahlar, işle ilgili kas-iskelet sistemi bozuklukları da dahil olmak üzere çeşitli mesleki risklere maruz kalmaktadır. Cerrahlarda tekrarlayan hareketler ve uzun süreli uygunsuz duruş gibi mesleki gereklilikler sonucu boyun ağrıları görülebilmektedir. Boyun ağrıları nedenleri arasında servikal sagittal denge parametrelerinin önemli bir yeri vardır. Bu çalışmada cerrahların servikal sagittal denge parametrelerinin değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır.
 Gereç ve Yöntemler: Bu kesitsel çalışmaya 2016-2019 yılları arasında işle ilgili boyun ağrısı olan 57 hasta dahil edildi. Manyetik rezonans görüntüleme kullanılarak T1S ve Cobb açısı ölçüldü. Katılımcıların yaş, vücut kitle indeksi, boy, kilo gibi kişisel özellikleri başvuru sırasında doldurulan anket ile elde edildi.
 Bulgular: Çalışmaya elli yedi katılımcı dahil edildi. Bunların 13'ü beyin cerrahı, 13'ü kulak burun boğaz cerrahı, 12'si genel cerrah, 11'i plastik cerrah ve 8'i kalp ve damar cerrahıydı. Cerrahların ortalama yaşı 38,7 ± 6,44 yıl ve ortalama VAS'ı 5,12± 0,73 idi. Ortalama T1S 23,2° ± 7,95° ve ortalama Cobb açısı 12,3° ± 7,99° idi. Beyin cerrahlarında ortalama T1S 22,2° ± 11,18° ve ortalama Cobb açısı 8,4° ± 5,91° idi. Tüm cerrahi branşlar içinde hem T1 hem de cobb açısı ölçümlerinde beyin ve sinir cerrahları en düşük ortalamaya sahipti.
 Sonuç: Cerrahların günlük rutin iş yükü, servikal sagittal dengenin bozulmasına neden olmakta, bu da cerrahların mesleki kas-iskelet sistemi hastalıkları açısından yüksek risk grubunda olduğunu düşündürmektedir.

Lack of workplace risk assessment as a predictor of adverse health effects for teleworkers - results from the survey on Life with COVID-19 in Latvia

Workplace risk assessment is one of the key tools for improving occupational safety and health conditions. However, providing risk assessment for teleworkplaces in the COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions has been a challenge for employers. The objective of this study was to identify the frequency of implementation of workplace risk assessment for teleworkplaces and the association between it and self-reported health complaints among teleworkers during the 1st emergency state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia. Teleworkers were recruited using a non-probability sampling (snowball sampling) method and social media advertisements. To obtain data that is representative of the demographic profile of the working population in Latvia, the sample was weighed based on gender and age. Out of 447 teleworking respondents included in our analysis, only 20.3% have mentioned that their employer had assessed the teleworking conditions (additional 8.1% reported partial assessment). Workers who have reported lack of risk assessment more often have health related complaints – e.g., pain longer than three days (26.9% with risk assessment versus 73.1% with no risk assessment), sore eyes (24.4% versus 75.6%) and anxiety (21.8% versus 78.2%) (p < 0.001 in all cases, except for pain). Increased incidence of occupational musculoskeletal diseases and burnout can be predicted in coming years in Latvia. Good practise examples should be gathered and promoted; guidelines for labour inspection should be developed in order to cover supervision of teleworking workplaces.

Ergonomic parameters of the pathologist’s workplace as important factors in the prevention of occupational musculoskeletal diseases

More than 80% of pathologists suffer from various manifestations of disorders of the musculoskeletal system. The daily duties of pathologists include several hours of work at a microscope and a computer. Microscopes are often not optimized for ergonomics and do not allow the doctor to take the correct sitting position, most often working with a microscope requires leaning forward. To study the ergonomic properties of the workplace of a pathologist and develop specific practical recommendations for long-term work at a microscope. The study included microscopes with an adjustable and non-adjustable angle of inclination of the tube and height-adjustable chairs. We identify following ergonomic parameters: pathologist height; angle of inclination of the back of the chair; angle of inclination of the microscope tube; angle of inclination of the neck; chair height. The study included 21 participants. Statistical processing and analysis were made using single-factor and multifactorial correlation analysis. A strong positive linear correlation was identified (r=0.80; p<0.05) between the height of test person and angle of inclination of the microscope tube. A strong positive linear correlation was established (r=0.91; p<0.05) between the test person height and the angle of inclination of the neck for microscopes with non-adjustable 31°-angle of inclination of the tube. For microscopes with non-adjustable 45°-angle of inclination of the tube a strong polynomial correlation of the second degree (r=0.85; p<0.05) was found. A moderate negative linear correlation was found between the height of the pathologist and his tilt angle neck with both adjustable and non-adjustable tube angle of the microscope. In this study for the first-time exact correlation dependencies between key ergonomic parameters of pathologist's workplace were evaluated. This study showed that only microscopes with an adjustable angle of inclination of the tube allow to achieve an optimal body position.

Musculoskeletal disorders and working risk factors.

The authors evaluate situation in the field of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and working risk factors in the Czech Republic. Analysis of selected data from the Czech National Registry of Occupational Diseases during 2008-2018, description of criteria for recognition of occupational MSDs and risk factors associated with MSDs. 6,152 cases of 6 selected recognized occupational musculoskeletal diseases represent 47% of all recognized occupational diseases. The main proportion formed diseases of peripheral nerves in the extremities in terms of compressive neuropathies due to long-term and stereotyped overload, diseases of tendons, tendon capsules or insertions of muscles or joints in the extremities due to long-term and stereotyped overload and diseases of peripheral nerves in the upper extremities in terms of ischaemic and compressive neuropathies due to work with vibrating tools and devices. The authors discussed decreasing trend of the exposure time in three main diagnoses and association of the incidence of MSDs with the risky work related to overload of the musculoskeletal system of the upper extremities. Important factors for the prevention of MSDs are directly related to the technical provision of production, the organization of work and the regime of work and rest, the length of working hours and the setting of production standards, and generally to the work related stress.

Distribution of working position among workers with varicose veins based on the National Health Insurance and National Employment Insurance data.

BackgroundThis study aimed to determine the effect of specific working postures on the development of varicose veins (VV). By using Korea's National Health Insurance (NHI) and National Employment Insurance (NEI) data, we analyzed the general characteristic and difference in proportions of VV cases according to occupational working posture.MethodsFrom the NEI and NHI data, participant demographics, such as gender, age, body mass index, and number of workers in specific occupations or industries were obtained. We classified the 240 occupations into blue-collar (BC) and white-collar (WC) occupations and subdivided them into standing, sitting, and walking groups according to the dominant working posture.ResultsThe number of VV patients per 100,000 individuals increased with age, with a higher number of women than men and a higher number of patients in the BC than WC groups. For the BC group, the proportion of VV cases was the highest in the standing group, followed by the walking and sitting groups, but there was no significant difference between standing and walking groups in man. For the WC group, the standing group had a higher proportion of VV cases than the sitting group, but there was no significant difference between the standing and sitting group in man. In the BC group, the proportion of VV cases was the highest among medical and welfare-related elementary workers, bakers and cookie makers, automobile assemblers, cleaning and guarding-related elemental workers, and nurses and dental hygienists. In the WC group, the proportion of VV cases was the highest among food/lodging/tourism/entertainment/sports-related managers, environment/cleaning/protective services-related managers, finance and insurance clerks, accounting book-keeping clerks, and social welfare and counseling professionals.ConclusionsThis study was performed to determine the characteristics of VV with different working posture among Korean workers. It is expected to be the basis of further studies on occupational musculoskeletal diseases.

Criteria for diagnosis and attribution of an occupational musculoskeletal disease.

Background:Criteria for diagnosis and compensation of occupational musculoskeletal diseases varies widely between countries as demonstrated by the large differences between countries with comparable economics and social systems (for example, within the European Union). Several countries have a list of occupational diseases and sometimes these lists include diagnostic and attribution criteria, but these criteria are usually not very specific, and they may also be very different.Objectives:The aim of this paper is to explicitly define what are the information needed for an evidence-based diagnosis and attribution of an occupational musculoskeletal disease.Methods:Based on the general framework of evidence-based medicine, a review is presented of the information required to define: - when a musculoskeletal disease is present, according to the best available techniques; - how to define a relevant exposure to biomechanical risk factors, according to the best available techniques.Results:Criteria are presented to combine information regarding the diagnosis of a musculoskeletal disease and exposure to biomechanical risk factors for an evidence-based attribution of the disease to the occupational exposure. The criteria use a probabilistic model that combine epidemiologic and medical findings, workplace exposure assessment, and non-occupational factors evaluation.Discussion:The use of the proposed criteria may improve the process of diagnosis and attribution of an occupational musculoskeletal disease. In addition, it makes possible to associate a probability rank to the attribution and, ultimately, it may improve the overall quality of the decisional process of the occupational physician.

PREVALENCE OF OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES AMONG SMALL AND MEDIUM INDUSTRY WORKERS IN MALAYSIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Occupational diseases are one of the major health problems related to workplace hazards. However, the epidemiological data for this problem is scarce especially among Small and Medium Industry (SMI) workers. These workers are vulnerable to occupational health problem due to lack of knowledge and implementation of health and safety in the workplace. In Malaysia, most of the SMI workers have limited coverage for basic occupational health services which may worsen their health. Thus, this article aims to provide a review on the burden of occupational health problems among them. The electronic and library searches were used to extract the information from both published and unpublished articles that were not limited to any year of publication until 2017. One hundred and ninety-six published articles and 198 unpublished articles were retrieved from the database. Only 19 published articles and 25 unpublished articles met the eligibility criteria. Prevalence data of occupational diseases/poisoning, including overall and body specific (musculoskeletal disorders) was extracted in raw data from the eligible studies. Prevalent statistics on occupational musculoskeletal diseases (1.3% - 97.6%), noise-induced hearing loss (29.4% - 73.3%), occupational skin diseases (10.5% - 84.3%), respiratory (1.9% - 92.2%) and occupational poisoning (14.9% - 17.7%) among the working population is different within published papers compared to unpublished ones. In Malaysia, there are no specific statistic that give a true picture of the burden of occupational diseases in the SMI. However, this review concludes that musculoskeletal diseases are significant occupational problems among SMI workers.

Occupational Musculoskeletal Disease and Stress Levels of Restaurant Cooks in Gangwon Province

Occupational Musculoskeletal Disease and Stress Levels of Restaurant Cooks in Gangwon Province

Occupational Musculoskeletal Disease and Stress Levels of Restaurant Cooks in Gangwon Province

Occupational Musculoskeletal Disease and Stress Levels of Restaurant Cooks in Gangwon Province

Safety Culture and Issue in the Malaysian Manufacturing Sector

. This paper highlights the Safety culture and issue in the Malaysian Manufacturing Sector and emphasis the high occupational accidents due to lack of safety culture and non-compliance of the requirements of Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994. The aim of this study is to review the occupational accidents occurrence in the Malaysia workplace since 2012-2016. Malaysia aimed to reduce the occupational accidents, the results show by DOSH increase that Occupational Noise Induced Hearing Loss 83.7%, occupational musculoskeletal diseases, 4.4% and occupational lung diseases 2.3%. But the as per the record from DOSH that in last 5-Years, the increment in the fatal accidents by Average 26%, Permanent Disability by Average 71% and Non-Permanent Disability by 64 % are investigated only in Manufacturing Industries. The government must show their high interest on such a vulnerable employees to accomplish the above aim. This step will be helpful for planning to reduce the accidents in workplaces and it will also detect the prevention for the future accidents.

Development of an Ergonomics Checklist for Investigation of Work-Related Whole-Body Disorders in Farming - AWBA: Agricultural Whole-Body Assessment.

Researchers have been using various ergonomic tools to study occupational musculoskeletal diseases in industrial contexts. However, in agricultural work, where the work environment is poorer and the socio-psychological stress is high due to the high labor intensities of the industry, current research efforts have been scarce, and the number of available tools is small. In our preliminary studies, which focused on a limited number of body parts and other working elements, we developed separate evaluation tools for the upper and lower extremities. The current study was conducted to develop a whole-body ergonomic assessment tool for agricultural work that integrates the existing assessment tools for lower and upper extremities developed in the preliminary studies and to verify the relevance of the integrated assessment tool. To verify the relevance of the Agricultural Whole-Body Assessment (AWBA) tool, we selected 50 different postures that occur frequently in agricultural work. Our results showed that the AWBA-determined risk levels were similar to the subjective risk levels determined by experts. In addition, as the risk level increased, the average risk level increased to a similar extent. Moreover, the differences in risk levels between the AWBA and expert assessments were mostly smaller than the differences in risk levels between other assessment tools and the expert assessments in this study. In conclusion, the AWBA tool developed in this study was demonstrated to be appropriate for use as a tool for assessing various postures commonly assumed in agricultural work. Moreover, we believe that our verification of the assessment tools will contribute to the enhancement of the quality of activities designed to prevent and control work-related musculoskeletal diseases in other industries.

Leg strength comparison between younger and middle-age adults

Although a risk of occupational musculoskeletal diseases has been identified with age-related strength degradation, strength measures from working group are somewhat sparse. This is especially true for the lower extremity strength measures in dynamic conditions (i.e., isokinetic). The objective of this study was to quantify the lower extremity muscle strength characteristics of three age groups (young, middle, and the elderly). Total of 42 subjects participated in the study: 14 subjects for each age group. A commercial dynamometer was used to evaluate isokinetic and isometric strength at ankle and knee joints. 2 × 2 (age group (younger, middle-age, and older adult groups) × gender (male and female)) between-subject design and Post-hoc analysis were performed to evaluate strength differences among three age groups. Post-hoc analysis indicated that, overall, middle-age workers' leg strengths (i.e., ankle and knee muscles) were significantly different from younger adults while middle-age workers' leg strengths were virtually identical to older adults' leg strengths. These results suggested that, overall, 14 middle-age workers in the present study could be at a higher risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Future studies looking at the likelihood of musculoskeletal injuries at different work places and from different working postures at various age levels should be required to validate the current findings. The future study would be a valuable asset in finding intervention strategies such that middle-age workers could stay healthier longer. Relevance to industry The leg strength value reported in the study may be used for alarming both middle-age workers and managers to be aware of possible MSDs due to shortfall in muscular strength, and managers to recommend limits for manual tasks involving lower extremity.

Modification of work organization.

Musculoskeletal diseases are a major industrial problem in terms of both disability and cost. These diseases cause a large number of permanent disability ratings and a burden to medical services. Low back pain occurs in 50% of workers in heavy industries. Repetitive loadings appear to fatigue and weakens the tissues leading to frank failures or an inflammatory response. Identification of the injury threshold will await an extensive epidemiologic data base. In establishing the organization for prevention of occupational musculoskeletal disease, the first priority is to form an effective and representative task force. The task force must first develop the epidemiologic data base so that mechanical hazards can be identified. An ergonomic approach, if soundly based on biomechan-ical principles, and in conjunction with correct management techniques will be effective in reducing such injuries. The task force should employ representatives from all relevant constituencies and should develop programmes for hazard ...