• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.413-423
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• 2001

Low back disorders (LBDs) are one of the most common and costly work-related musculoskeletal disorders. One of the major possible risk factors of LBDs is to work with static and awkward trunk postures, especially in a complex trunk posture involving flexion, twisting and lateral bending simultaneously. This study is to examine the effect of complex trunk postures on the postural stresses using a psychophysical method. Twelve healthy male students participated in an experiment, in which 29 different trunk postures were evaluated using the magnitude estimation method. The results showed that subjective discomfort significantly increased as the levels of trunk flexion, lateral bending and rotation increased. Significant interaction effects were found between rotation and lateral bending or flexion when the severe lateral bending or rotation were assumed, indicating that simultaneous occurrence of trunk flexion, lateral bending and rotation increases discomfort ratings synergistically. A postural workload evaluation scheme of trunk postures was proposed based on the angular deviation levels from the neutral position. Each trunk posture was assigned numerical stress index depending upon its discomfort rating, which was defined as the ratio of discomfort of a posture to that of its neutral posture. Four qualitative action categories for the stress index were also provided in order to enable practitioners to apply corrective actions appropriately. The proposed scheme is expected to be applied to several field areas for evaluating trunk postural stresses.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.107-111
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• 2023

This study aims to empirically investigate effects of motion repetition and external load according to joint motion on discomfort through an experiment. Eighteen college students (female: 9; male: 9) participated in an experiment measuring perceived discomfort using the Borg CR10. Joint(wrist, elbow, shoulder and trunk) motion, its repetition and external load were adopted as independent variables. The results showed that all three independent variables were statistically significant on discomfort. Participants' sex also significantly affected discomfort obtained in the experiment. While the interactions of joint motion and repetition, and joint motion and external load were not significant at α = 0.05, that of motion repetition and external load was significant. Based on the experimental results, four regression equations by the joints involved were presented, which could be used as a tool for evaluating postural loads by the joints. It may be postulated that based on the results of this study, scoring systems of RULA and REBA, and those of OWAS and REBA underestimates effects of motion repetition and external load, respectively. It is expected that the results of this study will be used as a basic data for developing an observational method properly reflecting the effects of motion repetition and external load.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.45-56
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to evaluate perceived discomfort of working postures in terms of upper body (back, shoulder, and elbow) flexions when an external load varies. Eighteen subjects participated in an experiment of appraising perceived discomfort of varying upper body postures with three levels of external loads given. The ANOVA results showed that the perceived discomfort of upper body postures was significantly affected by the external load. It was also apparent that the interactions between external load and upper body posture were significant (p< 0.001). The result implies that a new posture classification scheme for workload assessment methods may be in need to reflect such interactions between external load and upper body posture. In order to support the statement, a regression model of perceived discomfort of upper body postures obtained from the experiment was developed and compared to that of perceived discomfort of seven work-related postures found in automobile assembly operations. The correlation coefficient between predicted and actual values of perceived discomfort was about 0.96. It is expected that the result help to properly estimate the body stress resluting from worker's postures and external loads and can be used as a valuable design guideline on preventing work-related musculoskeletal diseases in industry.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.43-56
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• 2003

Observational methods such as OWAS, RULA, and REBA have been widely used to identify posture-related risks of musculoskeletal disorders in industry, since they are useful and efficient in evaluating postural stresses. However. there are few studies comparing the methods and providing guidelines for selecting and using the methods. They have been developed based on different backgrounds and with different application areas. Each method has its own characteristics. which must be considered in selecting and using them. In this study. 17 male subjects evaluated 42 different working postures that frequently assumed in the automobile assembly line using a psychophysical method. The postures were then evaluated by different observational methods. The results of the observational methods were compared with psychophysically evaluated stresses. The observational methods resulted in different values of stresses for certain postures. For some postures showing high values of perceived discomfort. the observational methods showed different values of stresses. These results showed that the observational methods should be used differently according to application area and they have some weak points to be improved.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.413-420
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to determine differences of balance performance to upright standing, forward bending posture, and sudden load during forward bending posture in subjects with and without a history of low back pain. A study was conducted on 8 subjects with low back pain and 13 healthy subjects. Dynamic Balance System was used to measure the postural sway index, left-right sway index, and anterior-posterior sway index on balance performance. There were no differences between subject groups on balance performance during upright standing. Balance performance was increased in forward bending posture and decreased in sudden load during forward bending posture in subjects with low back pain. These results suggest that subjects with low back pain demonstrated increased activity and decreased reaction times of trunk muscles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 1995.04a
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• pp.807-812
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• 1995

In this study, comparisons were made among three representative methods for predicting compressive forces on the lumbosacral disc: LP-based model, double LP-based model and EMG-assisted model. Two subjects simulated lifting tasks that are normally performed in the refractories industry. In the refractories lifting tasks, vertical and horizontal distance, and weight of load were varied. To calculate the L5/Sl compressive forces, EMG signals from six trunk muscles were measured and postural data were recorded using the Motion Analysis System. The EMG-assisted model was shown to reflect well all three factors considered here. On the other hand, the compressive forces of the two LP-based models were only significantly affected by weight of load.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.445-453
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• 2012

The aim of this paper was to prove that if the risk level in combined tasks was improved through evaluation of postural load of liquid weight measurement process, the workload level and ratio of exposure time would be changed, and the time of process would be seen concurrently. Background: According to results of epidemiological studies conducted by Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency, 122 musculoskeletal disorders occurred during 1992 to 2008, in which manufacturing industry covers 96(78.7%) of total. However, this is an insufficient level and only occupies 39% based on the South Korea's manufacturing standard industrial classification(246 industries). Method: Firstly, the number of batches weighed on one day(460min) was investigated based on the work performed and Weight measured weekly. VCR recording was taken based on the level of liquid ingredients prescribed for 1batch using the Camcorder. After dividing a 356 sec video into 1 sec using the screen capture function in Gom player, the job classification was performed by analyzing the change of working postures, which revealed 148 working postures. Time measurement was decided by time of the postures was being maintained. Then, the REBA analysis was performed for the working postures. The ratio of Exposure time was calculated based on the measurement time and REBA Score. In addition, the recommendations were designed and implementation was carried out for the working postures with REBA Score higher than 3. Finally, after the intervention, REBA measurement, time measurement, and ratio of exposure time were calculated for the comparison of works before and after improvement. Results: The number of work elements was decreased by 30.4% from 148 to 103 after improvement. The results of time measurement showed that the time was reduced by 46.3% from 356 sec to 191 sec. And the ratio of exposure time was also improved by 52.1% from 0% to 52.1% after improvement. Conclusion: The reduction of time was found to improve the productivity of management. Furthermore, because the reduction of ratio of exposure time and the improvement of workload level are the improvement of discomfort, it would contribute to the improvement of the worker's psychological working posture. Application: These results would contribute to musculoskeletal disease prevention and management performance. Further studies for other industries would be needed based on this case study.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.581-591
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• 1995

The main objective of this study is to compare three representative methods predicting compressive forces on lumbosacral disc : LP-based method, double LP-based method and EMG-assisted method. Two subjects simulated lifting tasks performed in the refractories industry, in which vertical and horizontal distance, and weight of load were varied. To calculate the L5/S1 compressive forces, EMG signals from six trunk muscles were measured and postural data and locations of load were recorded using the Motion Analysis System. The EMG-assisted model was shown to reflect well all three factors considered here. On the other hand, the compressive forces of the LP-based model and the double LP-based model were only significantly affected by weight of load. In addition, lowly positive correlation was observed between compressive forces of the EMG-assisted model and lifting index(LI) of 1991 NIOSH lifting equation. From this results, it can be concluded that compressive forces on L5/S1 by the EMG-assisted method should be used as biomechanical criterion in order to evaluate risk of jobs precisely, and LI can not evaluate risk of lifting tasks fully.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2002

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the physical load by identifying harmfully working postures and to develop recommendations for improving the existing situation with nurses in ICU, thereby to provide the basis for development of work-related musculoskeletal preventive program. Method: Various types of tasks were recorded with a video camera to chart and analyze different postures by OWAS(Ovako Working Posture Analysing System). Collected data showed that poor postures were adopted, not only for lifting or repositoning a patient, but also for other tasks. Data Analysis: The performed activities were then divided into Nursing Intervention Classification. Altogether 128 postures were selected for analysis. Then they were classified into different OAC (OWAS Action Categories). From all the observation, unhealthy postures, for which corrective measures had to be considered immediately (i.e., 75% classified as OACII+III+IV) were found. Collected data were analyzed in terms of percentage, 2-tail Mann-Whitney U test. Result: Poor postures mainly occur during 'positioning the patient' and 'airway suctioning' in NIC. No difference was found (p=0.060) between the percentage of harmful posture adopted during the patient handling tasks and non-patient handling tasks. Conclusion: This study shows, that in the nursing profession with ICU not only occur during patient handling, but also during other activities. The OWAS method was useful in determining the physical load by locating potential activities due to harmfully working postures, providing a detailed description with analysis, and suggesting successful means to reduce postural load.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.15-20
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure changes in the H-reflex and V wave under loading conditions (e.g. prone and standing position) and to investigate whether postural change would affect the H-reflex and V wave in post stroke hemiplegic patients. Methods: Thirty persons with hemiplegia resulting from stroke (20 males, 10 females) participated in this study. Electromyography (EMG) was used to electrically stimulate and record the soleus H-reflexes and V waves under various loading conditions. The normality of the distribution of each variable (H latency, $H_{max}/M_{max}$ ratio, $V_{max}/M_{max}$ ratio) was tested using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The means of normally distributed continuous data were assessed by independent t-test (${\alpha}$=0.05). Results: There were statistically significant differences in $H_{max}/M_{max}$ ratio (p<0.01), $V_{max}/M_{max}$ ratio (p<0.01), H latency (p<0.01) among the prone and standing position. Conclusion: We found that the H-reflex and V wave in standing position was more active to weight bearing load than prone position.