Interactions of Biomechanics and Psychosocial Stressors and MSDs

Details

• Personal Author:
  Blatter B ; Bruno-Garza J ; Dennerlein, Jack T. ; Eijckelhof B ; Huysmans M ; Johnson P ; van der Beek A ; van Dieen J
• Description:
  Computer related musculoskeletal disorders plague the American office work force. Epidemiological studies have identified physical, psychosocial and individual factors associated with musculoskeletal health outcomes; however, the role of physical factors have been difficult to ascertain due to the difficulty of measuring these factors in the real work environment. For the first aim of the study, we developed a system that measured 22 different biomechanical factors of 120 office workers in their real work environment. The system was untethered allowing workers to freely move in their work environment. For these direct measures of biomechanical factors we tested the hypothesis that (1) physical risk factors and psychosocial factors were highly correlated in the modern office. From these data we built exposure prediction models for these 22 biomechanical parameters that can be applied to larger epidemiological studies. For the second aim of the study, we applied these exposure prediction models to a cohort of office workers to test the hypothesis that (2) these physical risk factors were associated with musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) outcomes. The first aim created a number of key findings. First, extending our laboratory work, within subject upper extremity biomechanical exposure intensities vary across tasks significantly. Keyboarding activities were associated with neutral postures of the shoulder yet were associated with higher levels wrist extension and acceleration. Mouse activities were associated with non-neutral postures of the right shoulder and the least variability (or most constrained postures). Idle activities were associated with the largest variability. Second, participants who reported high over-commitment and low reward had significantly larger shoulder trapezius muscle activity than those with lower levels of over-commitment and high reward. In addition, work patterns also varied significantly across workers who report different levels of organizational work stress with less breaks and longer continuous bouts of activity for those in higher stress groups. The second aim created two major findings. First, across subjects upper extremity biomechanical exposure intensities vary and can be predicted based on a set of self-reported parameters often collected in epidemiological studies of computer related MSDs. Second, oreliminary univariate analysis indicates in a separate and larger cohort, that predicted values of right shoulder flexion, right forearm muscle activity, and keyboard force are associated with the incidence of new reports of neck, shoulder, arm, wrist, and hand pain. The impact of these findings includes changing our knowledge about associations between work place psychosocial factors and exposure to computer work identifying biomechanical pathways for computer related musculoskeletal disorders. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Computers Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Biomechanics MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Office Workers Psychosocial Factors Risk Factors Upper Extremities Work Environment
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-23
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056469
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-101394
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R01-OH-008781, 2013 Nov; :1-23
• Contact Point Address:
  Jack T Dennerlein, Ph.D., Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115
• Email:
  jax@hsph.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance ; Services
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard University, School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20080901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20130831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:09f658b1de318f2b1a1f5c20c9d07924040462bea00b353178fdcdac39db7733fc6e3f4ac02e241375c354a2d26d1112a1817ffca28a80799ac466a629639041
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218896/cdc_218896_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 863.91 KB ]