Carpet-layer's knee.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Halperin, William E. ; Jensen R ; Smith AB ; Tanaka, Shiro
• Description:
  Aspects of occupational knee disorders are reviewed. Knee problems among carpet layers are described. Such workers strike a knee kicker, used to stretch the carpet, with the suprapatellar area of their knees. Members of a carpet layers union required knee surgery, evacuation of knee effusions, and treatment of repeated joint infection. It is suggested that these entities resemble housemaid's knee. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics was searched for 1979 claims for knee injuries classified as inflammation or irritation of the joints brought about by leaning, kneeling, applying repeated pressure, or striking a stationary object. Results show 742 claims, with 21 occupations contributing 10 or more of the total claims. Included are carpet installers, tile setters, floor layers, dry wall installers and lathers, cement and concrete finishers, miscellaneous laborers, miscellaneous mechanics and repairpersons, carpenters, sheet metal workers, and tinsmiths. The number of compensation claim awards to carpet layers is disproportionate to their representation in the workforce. The ratio of percent of claims to percent of workforce is 107.81 for carpet installers; the next highest ratio is 52.59 for tile setters. The authors conclude that both kneeling and use of the knee kicker affect occupational knee injury. Further research on the problem is proposed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Biological Factors Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Accident-statistics Biological-effects Biological-factors Employee-exposure Injuries Physiological-response
• ISSN:
  0028-4793
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  307
• Issue:
  20
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00134560
• Citation:
  N Engl J Med 1982 Nov; 307(20):1276-1277
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1983
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  New England Journal of Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:972057881d817095dee07336d923373c64802f6dee43c5d4ea70f16d8017d4f1763155252b4d335da6bfc1488a002a261d37c34b3ad378b0eab4991c4187e2e5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/184664/cdc_184664_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 383.52 KB ]