Vibrations transmitted from human hands to upper arm, shoulder, back, neck, and head

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dong, Ren G. ; McDowell, Thomas W. ; Warren C ; Welcome DE ; Wu, John Z. ; Xu XS
• Description:
  Some powered hand tools can generate significant vibration at frequencies below 25 Hz. It is not clear whether such vibration can be effectively transmitted to the upper arm, shoulder, neck, and head and cause adverse effects in these substructures. The objective of this study is to investigate the vibration transmission from the human hands to these substructures. Eight human subjects participated in the experiment, which was conducted on a 1-D vibration test system. Unlike many vibration transmission studies, both the right and left hand-arm systems were simultaneously exposed to the vibration to simulate a working posture in the experiment. A laser vibrometer and three accelerometers were used to measure the vibration transmitted to the substructures. The apparent mass at the palm of each hand was also measured to help in understanding the transmitted vibration and biodynamic response. This study found that the upper arm resonance frequency was 7e12 Hz, the shoulder resonance was 7e9 Hz, and the back and neck resonances were 6e7 Hz. The responses were affected by the hand-arm posture, applied hand force, and vibration magnitude. The transmissibility measured on the upper arm had a trend similar to that of the apparent mass measured at the palm in their major resonant frequency ranges. The implications of the results are discussed. Relevance to industry: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the shoulder and neck are important issues among many workers. Many of these workers use heavy-duty powered hand tools. The combined mechanical loads and vibration exposures are among the major factors contributing to the development of MSDs. The vibration characteristics of the body segments examined in this study can be used to help understand MSDs and to help develop more effective intervention methods. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Vibration
• Keywords:
  Acceleration Analytical Instruments Arm Injuries Author Keywords: Hand-arm Vibration Back Injuries Biodynamics Body Mechanics Body Regions Force Hand-arm Vibration Syndrome Hand-transmitted Vibration Hand Injuries Hand Tools HAVS Head Head Injuries Heavy Equipment Humans Lasers MSD Musculoskeletal System Musculoskeletal System Disorders Neck Neck Injuries Physiological Measurements Physiological Testing Posture Power Tools Shoulder Vibration Effects Vibration Exposure

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• ISSN:
  0169-8141
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-12
• Volume:
  62
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048449
• Citation:
  Int J Ind Ergon 2017 Nov; 62:1-12
• Contact Point Address:
  Xueyan S. Xu, ECTB/HELD/NIOSH/CDC, 1095 Willowdale Road, MS L-2027, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
• Email:
  XueyanXu@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:12c7e5ecdd4f1f6477669fedda06ee0870cb2ca8319f98f1d5a70246706f963003c96f02c2b07567fb4309eac8af896dcd60f51a03893a2ffadbd25443103033
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203200/cdc_203200_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.86 MB ]