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Shoulder girdle muscle activity and fatigue in traditional and improved design carpet weaving workstations

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Allahyari T., Mortazavi N., Khalkhali H. R., Sanjari M. A.

International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health

2015

vol. 29

issue 2

345-354

Objectives Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the neck and shoulder regions are common among carpet weavers. Working for prolonged hours in a static and awkward posture could result in an increased muscle activity and may lead to musculoskeletal disorders. Ergonomic workstation improvements can reduce muscle fatigue and the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. Material and Methods The aim of this study is to assess and to compare upper trapezius and middle deltoid muscle activity in 2 traditional and improved design carpet weaving workstations. These 2 workstations were simulated in a laboratory and 12 women carpet weavers worked for 3 h. Electromyography (EMG) signals were recorded during work in bilateral upper trapezius and bilateral middle deltoid. The root mean square (RMS) and median frequency (MF) values were calculated and used to assess muscle load and fatigue. Repeated measure ANOVA was performed to assess the effect of independent variables on muscular activity and fatigue. The participants were asked to report shoulder region fatigue on the Borg’s Category-Ratio scale (Borg CR-10). Results Root mean square values in workstation A are significantly higher than in workstation B. Furthermore, EMG amplitude was higher in bilateral trapezius than in bilateral deltoid. However, muscle fatigue was not observed in any of the workstations. Conclusions The results of the study revealed that muscle load in a traditional workstation was high, but fatigue was not observed. Further studies investigating other muscles involved in carpet weaving tasks are recommended.

Anti-fatigue mats, low back pain, and electromyography: An interventional study

76%

Aghazadeh J., Ghaderi M., Azghani M.-R., Khalkhali H.-R., Allahyari T., Mohebbi I.

International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health

2015

vol. 28

issue 2

347-356

Objectives Increasing bilateral gluteus medius co-activation has been identified as one of the most important factors in developing low back pain due to prolonged standing in healthy people. This study aims to investigate the impact of an anti-fatigue mat on the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation pattern and to report the low back pain subjectively in 2 different standing positions on the normal rigid surface and on the anti-fatigue mat. Material and Methods While carrying out an easy simulated profession, 16 participants who had no low back pain background were requested to stand for 2 h in each position, with and without using the anti-fatigue floor mat, respectively. At the beginning of standing process and at every 15 min until the time of 120 min lapses, electric activities for the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation and subjective pain level in low back area were collected by the surface electromyogeraphy (EMG) and the visual analogue scale (VAS), respectively in each position. Results The obtained findings revealed that the anti-fatigue mat significantly decreased subjective pain level in low back area among 15 participants (p < 0.05). However, there was objectively no significant difference in the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation pattern among the participants between the position 1 and the position 2 (p > 0.05). The findings obtained under this study related to the impact of the anti-fatigue mat upon the low back pain based on the increase of > 10 mm on the VAS threshold, which showed that this intervention had no significant impact upon decreasing the number of patients suffering from the low back pain and also minimizing the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation in both pain developer groups (p > 0.05). However, 73% of the participants preferred to apply it. Conclusions It seems that the anti-fatigue mat may be useful in reducing the low back pain although it objectively didn’t significantly change the gluteus medius co-activation pattern related to the low back pain.

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2 International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health

2 Allahyari T.

1 Aghazadeh J.

1 Azghani M.-R.

1 Ghaderi M.

1 Khalkhali H. R.

1 Khalkhali H.-R.

1 Mohebbi I.

1 Mortazavi N.

1 Sanjari M. A.

2 2015

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Shoulder girdle muscle activity and fatigue in traditional and improved design carpet weaving workstations

Anti-fatigue mats, low back pain, and electromyography: An interventional study