• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.289-299
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• 2007

Objectives : To investigate the related factors on musculoskeletal symptoms among Korean female workers. Methods : A total of 1,875 female workers (1,002 office workers and 873 blue-collar workers) was analyzed. They were randomly selected among female workers by cluster sampling and interviewed by well trained interviewer, who filled out a structured questionnaire on the musculoskeletal symptoms. Other factors such as general and occupational characteristics including workplace location, employment condition, work duration, and working condition were also investigated. Results : Current smokers and drinkers were significantly more common in blue-collar workers than in office workers. Those working full time were significantly more common in blue-collar workers than in office workers. Those working over 8 hours per day were also popular in office workers than in blue-collar workers. Subjective musculoskeletal symptoms were significantly higher in the type of work including excessive repetitive work, work using awkward stretching hand upwards, work using repetitive wrist movements, static work using awkward hand posture, and heavy manual lifting and handling works. The mean score of the symptoms were significantly higher in blue-collar than in office workers. The significantly different working factors between two groups were work duration, employment condition and daily work hours. Conclusion : We suggest that the type of work including awkward and repetitive works as well as job type may be one of the most important factors related to musculoskeletal symptoms of female workers in the workplace. Preventive strategy will be needed to prevent the negative impact on health status of working women in the workplace.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.141-151
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• 2009

Cognitive degree of musculoskeletal symptoms and existence (or non-existence) of experience was conducted following dental hygienists' health habits, heath state and working environment targeting dental hygienists who were working for the dental clinics in Masan-si, Changwon-si and Jinhae-si in Gyeongsangnam-do for one year or more. The research findings were as follows. 1. Cognitive degree of musculoskeletal symptom following general characteristics was the highest among the subjects who were 40 years old or above. 2. As for the education level, cognitive degree of musculoskeletal symptoms was high while prevalence was low, which were statistically significant when the education level was higher. 3. Cognitive degree of musculoskeletal symptom was high when the subjects exercised, and cognitive degree of musculoskeletal symptom and prevalence were significantly high when they are engaged in leisure activities or hobbies. 4. Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms was statistically high if they are afflicted with disease, if they feel burdened by their job, if they suffer from considerable physical fatigue, if they feel chronic fatigue or if they feel that their health state is poor. 5. Cognitive degree of musculoskeletal symptom and prevalence were higher, which was statistically significant, when the number of years worked was higher. 6. Cognitive degree of musculoskeletal symptom was higher, but prevalence was lower when the time that they were seated was longer. This research demonstrated that the musculoskeletal disorders related to their job that afflicts the dental hygienists is not caused by one element, but it is possible to see that the musculoskeletal disorders results from the interaction of the diverse elements that are interrelated such as the subjects' characteristics and health habits and heath state, working environment and so forth including inappropriate work related movements. To this, dental hygienists need to improve their health habits so that they can form proper health habits that will ensure health in every day life on their own with the improvement of their every day life habit and positive self-evaluation to act on the health promotion behaviors, education and publicity, and measures to prevent and to manage musculoskeletal disorders in overall need to bepursued after in an active manner.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.79-87
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• 2020

PURPOSE: Physical therapists are always exposed to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Although kinesio taping can support the joints and assist movement, studies of the effects of kinesio taping on these physical therapists are lacking. This study examined the effects of Kinesio-taping on pain, grip strength, range of motion and daily living skills in physical therapists with work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Pain was measured using a 100 mm VAS. The grip strength was measured using a handgrip dynamometer. The range of joint motion was measured using a goniometer. Living skills were measured by patient-rated wrist evaluation. METHODS: Twenty physical therapists with wrist pain (Kinesio taping: n = 10, Sham taping: n = 10) received taping for each group, and measured the pain, grip strength, range of motion and daily living skills before (Baseline) and after taping (Nine hours). RESULTS: All data were analyzed using Repeated Measure ANOVA (p < .05). In the Kinesio group, resting pain (-14.9), movement pain (-20.5), and daily living skills (-9.55) were improved significantly compared to the baseline (p < .05). The grip strength and range of motion were not changed (p > .05). The sham group showed no significant change in all variables (p > .05). CONCLUSION: Physical therapists with work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the wrist should apply kinesiotaping to improve the occupational tasks.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.48-59
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• 1999

Objectives. This study was conducted to evaluate the association between upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment(RULA) in vehicle assembly line workers. The goal of this study is to show the feasibility of RULA as a checklist for work related musculoskeletal symptoms (WMSDs) in Korean workers. Methods. The total number of 199 people from the department of assembly and 115 people from the department of Quality Control(QC) in automotive plant were subjects for this cross sectional study. A standard symptom questionnaire survey has been used for the individual characteristics, work history, musculosketal symptoms and non-occupational covariates. The data were obtained by applying one-on-one interview for the all subjects. RULA has been applied for ergonomic work posture analysis and the primary ergonomic risk sure was computed by RULA method. Association between upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms and RULA were assessed by multiple logistic regression analysis. Results. A total of 314 workers was examined. The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms by NIOSH case definition was 62.4%. The distribution of musculoskeletal symptoms by the part of the body turned out to be following; back:41.4%, neck: 32.8%, shoulder: 26.4%, arm: 10.5% and hand:29.3%. The relationship of the individual RULA scores were statistically significant for the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. As the result of the multiple logistic regressioin analysis, grand final score (OR=2.250 95% CI: 1.402-3.612) was associated with musculoskeletal symptoms in any part of the body.; upper arm score(OR=1.786 95% CI: 1.036-3.079) and posture score A(OR=1.634 95% CI: 1.016-2.626) in neck; muscel use score(OR=3.076 95% CI:1.782-5.310) and posture score A(OR=1.798 95% CI: 1.072-3.017) in shoulder; upper arm score(OR=1.715 95% CI: 1.083-2.715) and muscel use score(OR=2.057 95% CI:1.303-3.248) in neck & shoulder; muscle use score(OR=10.662 95% CI: 3.180-35.742) in arm; writst/wist score(OR=2.068 95% CI: 1.130-3.786) and muscle use score(OR=2.215 95% CI: 1.284-3.819) in hand & wrist.; muscle use score of trunk (OR=2.601 95% CI: 1.147-5.901) in back. Conclusions. Musculoskeletal symptoms of the extremities were strongly associated with individual RULA body score. These results show that RULA can be used as a useful assessment tool for the evaluation of musculoskeletal loading which is known to contribute to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. RULA also can be used as a screening tool or incorporated into a wider ergonomic assessment of epidemiological, physical, mental, environmental and organizational factors. As shown in this study, complement of the analysis system for the other risk factors and characterizing between the upper limb and back part will be needed for future work.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.85-95
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and affecting factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMSD) among the directory assistance operators. Methods: One hundred eighty-five female subjects who worked more than one year as directory assistance operators in a telecommunication company were surveyed with self-administered questionnaires. Subjects were divided into disorder and control group by the NIOSH criterion about WRMSD, and then analyzed. Results: One hundred seventy two subjects (93%) had upper extremity symptoms and seventy subjects (37.8%) were WRMSD. the frequency order of the disorder area was the shoulder 60(32.4%), the neck 37(20.0%), the wrist 20(10.8%), the finger 20(10.8%) and the elbow 5(2.7%). It was found that the difference factors of the WRMSD group were education level (p<0.01), stress from the customers (p<0.01), satisfaction about monitor (p<0.05), temperature (p<0.05), noise (p<0.01), ventilation (p<0.001), working time (p<0.05), and recess (p<0.001). Conclusion: Improving working condition and education for the workers to control the stress are necessary to decrease the WRMSD for the directory assistance operators.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.234-243
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and work-related factors of these symptoms in dental hygienists. The self-administered questionnaire was surveyed and collected from August 1-12 of 2011 targeting 210 dental hygienists Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daegu, Pohang. Except 5 people whose responses are not clear and who suffered accident, the analysis was made on 205 people. Data analysis was performed using the chi square test and multiple logistic regression analysis using the SPSS WIN(ver 18.0) program, RULA and, REBA. The overall Experience rate of musculoskeletal symptoms was 95.6% (196/205). The specific Experience rate of musculoskeletal symptoms for different regions of the body were as follows:The highest was shown 82.4% in Neck-shoulders(R), 78% in Neck, 69.8% in shoulders(R), 66.3%in Wrist(R). Therefore, Improvements of working environments in dental clinics are needed to prevent musculoskeletal disease development in dental hygienists.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.211-221
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify work-related risk factors associated with upper extremity symptoms among construction workers using the fourth Korean Working Condition Survey(KWCS). Methods: Subjects were 2,724 construction workers selected from 50,007 respondents in the 2014 KWCS. The presence or absence of upper extremity symptoms and work-related risk factors, including individual, physical, and psychosocial factors, were used as variables. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed in order to evaluate the relationship of the upper extremity symptoms with work-related risk factors. Results: Upper extremity symptoms were significantly associated with: employment type(OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.18~2.09); job satisfaction(OR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.33~3.18); verbal abuse(OR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.33~3.18); tiring or painful posture(OR: 2.33, 95% CI: 1.73~3.15); carrying or moving heavy loads(OR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.23~2.24); repetitive hand or arm movement(OR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.06~1.91) Conclusions: In order to prevent the upper extremity musculoskeletal disease in the construction industry, it is necessary to stabilize employment, enhance job satisfaction, and eliminate violence in the workplace and improve physical work environment.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.51-58
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• 2012

This study attempted to evaluate the direct and indirect effect of emotional labor, job and psychosocial stress, and fatigue of beauty industry workers on their musculoskeletal diseases. The findings of this study showed that, among the workers with perceived symptoms of musculoskeletal diseases, the body part with the most commonly occurring symptom was the shoulder, followed by neck, low back, wrist, arm, foot and knee. As for the effect of work-related psychological factors on musculoskeletal diseases, it was found that the workers with musculoskeletal diseases were more affected by emotional labor and fatigue than non-symptom workers. It was also shown that when their job stress increased, the fatigue level also increased, though their psychosocial stress decreased. In addition, it was found that both direct and indirect effects of emotional labor on fatigue were high, and the indirect effect of job stress through fatigue on musculoskeletal diseases was significant.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.259-266
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• 2020

This study is a descriptive research for understanding the health behaviors, job stress, and musculoskeletal subjective symptoms of university employees, and also for examining the influence factors having effects on the musculoskeletal subjective symptoms. Targeting total 158 university employees, the data was collected from July to August 2020. In the results of this study, the characteristics related to health behaviors showed the percentages like the rate of drinking(68.6%), rate of smokers(9.6%), rate of exercising three times or more a week(15.4%), and the rate of regular eating habit(64.7%). The mean score of job stress was 63.7. The musculoskeletal disease symptom group falling under the occupational musculoskeletal subjective symptom standard of NIOSH was 18.6%, and the musculoskeletal subjective symptom of shoulders showed the highest rate. Also, the 29.5% of research subjects responded that the cause for their musculoskeletal pain was work. As the factors having effects on the musculoskeletal subjective symptoms, the sex, age, career experience, and job stress had significant effects on the subjective symptom of shoulder part(p<.01) while the regular exercise had significant effects on the subjective symptom of waist(p<.05). The educational background and regular meals had significant effects on the subjective symptom of legs and knees(p<.05). Thus, in order to prevent the musculoskeletal diseases of university employees, it would be necessary to develop/apply the programs for the relief of job stress, regular exercise, and regular meals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to survey the risk factors of greenhouse vegetables farmers' work-related musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs). To offer the fundamental data for agricultural improvement of greenhouse vegetable farms, the questionnaire of MSDs and heath condition were carried out. A group of 736 workers(males=492, females=244) in 6 branches constitutes the population and database for the analysis between 2004 and 2005. The sample branch was chosen based on paper are watermelon, strawberry, tomato, melon, cucumber, lettuce. The results are as follows: 1. Smoking rates in cucumber and tomato is the highest. 2. Drinking rates in strawberry, cucumber and lettuce is the highest in males, watermelon and melon are the highest in females. 3. Regular exercise rates in melon are the highest. 4. Physical and mental fatigue in females is higher than that of males in most crops except melon. That of strawberry and tomato is the highest. 5. The prevalence rates of medical diagnosed diseases are higher in order of osteoarthritis, herniated nucleus pulposus(HNP), and hypertension. That of strawberry, melon, and cucumber is high in case of osteoarthritis; Strawberry, melon, and watermelon are high in case of HNP. 6. Prevalence rates of musculoskeletal symptoms among the various pain areas are higher in order of low back, knees, and shoulders. That of tomato and watermelon is high in case of low back; strawberry and tomato are high in case of knees. These results can be used practically for agricultural improvement of greenhouse vegetables farms to prevent MSDs.