Exposure to a workday environment results in an increase in anterior tilting of the scapula in dental hygienists with greater employment experience

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ettinger L ; Karduna A ; Kincl, Laurel ; McClure P
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Dental hygienists suffer a high incidence of shoulder pathology that seems to increase with job longevity. It has been hypothesized that occupational injuries could be due to local muscle fatigue caused by repetitive low level work and awkward and constrained working postures. In the laboratory, scapular kinematics can be temporarily altered using fatiguing protocols. It is unknown whether or not workday fatigue causes changes to scapular kinematics. The aim of this study was to examine if changes in scapular tilt and rotation occurs after a workday in dental hygienists. METHODS: The pre and post workday scapular kinematics were recorded from dental hygienists using an electromagnetic tracking system. All data were recorded within the place of employment of the dental hygienist. RESULTS: Following the workday, there was significantly more scapular anterior tilt in dental hygienists (P<0.05); however, no changes were found for upward or internal rotation. Greater kinematic differences were found for hygienists with greater job longevity. INTERPRETATION: The increase in scapular anterior tilting could be due to post workday fatigue. Anterior tilting of the scapula may have an influence on the development of subacromial impingement syndrome. Hygienists with greater duration of work experience may be at greater risk for developing shoulder injuries as they have more anterior tilting of the scapula post workday. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Cumulative Trauma Disorders Dental Offices Fatigue Men Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Pathology Safety Women

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Author Keywords: Scapular Kinematics Cumulative-trauma Cumulative-trauma-disorders Dental Hygienists Dentistry Humans Hygienists Muscles Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Physical-fitness Physical-stress Physiological-factors Physiology Posture Repetitive-work Statistical-analysis Workday Fatigue

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• ISSN:
  0268-0033
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  341-345
• Volume:
  27
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041187
• Citation:
  Clin Biomech 2012 May; 27(4):341-345
• Contact Point Address:
  Andrew Karduna, University of Oregon, 1220 University St. Eugene Oregon, USA. 97403
• Email:
  karduna@uoregon.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Performing Organization:
  University of Oregon
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20070301
• Source Full Name:
  Clinical Biomechanics
• End Date:
  20110228
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e36665efd5d3f57d3e73309836359524a9f6a376fac176bd9a650981d56f7d42ea733e9f475ea4b7009c2f3f8350a088b087a7f1e667398fd40711e2ece92c46
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193798/cdc_193798_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 151.23 KB ]