• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2016

Background: Prolonged sitting leads to low back discomfort and lumbopelvic muscle fatigue. This study examined the characteristics of body perceived discomfort and trunk muscle fatigue during 1 hour of sitting in three postures in office workers. Methods: Thirty workers sat for 1 hour in one of three sitting postures (i.e., upright, slumped, and forward leaning postures). Body discomfort was assessed using the Body Perceived Discomfort scale at the beginning and after 1 hour of sitting. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from superficial lumbar multifidus, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, internal oblique (IO)/transversus abdominis (TrA), and rectus abdominis muscles during 1 hour of sitting. The median frequency (MDF) of the EMG power spectrum was calculated. Results: Regardless of the sitting posture, the Body Perceived Discomfort scores in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock significantly increased after 1 hour of sitting compared with baseline values ($t_{(9)}=-11.97$ to -2.69, p < 0.05). The MDF value of the EMG signal of rectus abdominis, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, and multifidus muscles was unchanged over time in all three sitting postures. Only the right and left IO/TrA in the slumped sitting posture was significantly associated with decreased MDF over time (p = 0.019 to 0.041). Conclusion: Prolonged sitting led to increased body discomfort in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock. No sign of trunk muscle fatigue was detected over 1 hour of sitting in the upright and forward leaning postures. Prolonged slumped sitting may relate to IO/TrA muscle fatigue, which may compromise the stability of the spine, making it susceptible to injury.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Industrial Safety Conference
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.307-312
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• 1998

In forklift operations, awkward postures due to backward driving may put drivers to the risk of CTD or low back pain. In this research, 6 forklift drivers were surveyed with OWAS for objective posture evaluation and bodymaps for self-report evaluation. The backward driving happened more frequently than forward driving as expected, and, as work hours passed by, the drivers naturally tended to assume the easier work postures in inverse proportion to the frequency of the backward operations. According to the results of OWAS, 60 % of the work postures in the forklift operations belonged to the category II, III, and IV classified serious. Especially, in the backward driving, the postures with the neck twisted over $45^{\circ}$ occupied 82.4 %. In addition, discomfort on the neck, left shoulder, and low back was frequently reported in the self-reports.

• Proceedings of the ESK Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.437-440
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• 1997

The association of poor body postures with pains or symptoms of musculoskeletal discorders has been reported by many researchers. An ergonomic evaluation of postural stresses as well as biomechanical stresses is also important especially when a job involves highly repetitive or prolonged poor body postures. The human body is divided into five parts: shoulder/upper arm, lower arm/wrist, back, neck, lower extremities. A work-sampling based macropostural classification system was developed to characterize various postures in this study. Application of the posture classification schema developed in this study to 7 automobile assembly tasks showed that the schema can be used as a tool to didntify the operation and tasks involving highly stressful body postures. This posture classification schema can also be applied as a basis for quantitive evaluating the workload of manual task.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.71-89
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to design posture braces for rounded shoulders by examining characteristics of incorrect postures of rounded shoulders. The review of information in literature on rounded shoulder postures, correction exercise methods, and posture correction devices, has prompted this study to determine the design and material of a proper posture brace for rounded shoulders. In order to develop the pattern of a posture brace for rounded shoulders for women, the study carried out a comfort evaluation of the braces based on the 2D patterns through drafting method by utilizing the body measurements and relational formulae associated with the major body measurement such as bust circumference and on the 3D patterns of the brace which were obtained from 3D human model of women in their early 20s in Korea. Differences in angles were noted when 2D and 3D patterns of shoulder posture braces were compared. The side neck point was relocated farther outside in the 3D pattern to allow additional flexibility in the back-neck area, and the shoulder band was lowered by 14.8°, increasing armhole area comfort. The upper hemline of the front panel was found to rotate upward at an angle of 22.0° as the underarm point of the 3D pattern moved upwards than the underarm point of the 2D pattern, which enhanced comfort in the abdomen area. The 3D designs of shoulder posture brace was preferred in this study, as they significantly improved comfort while conducting fit evaluation compared to the 2D patterns of shoulder posture brace.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.139-146
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• 2023

Purpose: The aim of this study is to provide basic information to create an efficient training program to improve shoulder stability and function in patients with injuries and in patients having undergone surgery of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles, which have a relatively high incidence of injury in shoulder joint disease. Further, independent activities of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles were investigated according to forearm rotation and the neutral and lateral rotation postures. Methods: The activities of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles were measured using surface electromyography in 22 healthy adults in Busan, and isokinetic muscle strength measurement equipment was used to measure muscle strength during shoulder lateral rotation. The subjects performed lateral rotation of the shoulder in three different forearm postures (neutral, supine, prone) to measure shoulder muscle activity and lateral rotation strength. Results: The independent activity ratio (% Isolation) of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles during lateral rotation of the shoulder joint demonstrated a significant difference (p<0.05) according to the change in forearm posture. Conclusion: The supraspinatus muscle showed independent activity ranging from highest to lowest in the order of pronation, neutral, and supination of the forearm, while the independent activity of the infraspinatus muscle ranged from highest to lowest in the order of neutral, supination, and pronation of the forearm. Therefore, the most active forearm positions for the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles are pronation and neutral, respectively.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1049-1060
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to develop a shirt pattern that enhances the functionality of golf swing motions. The pattern was made with 3D body surface shape data that changed according to dynamic golf postures. The data were collected from the golf swing motions. The 3D body surface data in golf swing postures piled up on the 3D surface data in a static posture. The results showed that the surface shape data changed more in the address, back swing, and finish postures than the other swing postures. The experimental pattern was developed with 3D surface scan data in those three golf swing motions. The pattern had raglan sleeves and the front-bodied piece was divided into two pieces with a princess line, which comes from armscye line of the address posture. The back bodice piece was divided into three pieces with a yoke line and a back princess line. The yoke line was made by back shoulder shape in the back swing posture. The level of comfort of the experimental garment and commercial golf shirts was evaluated by 38 women golfers. The experimental garment pattern was evaluated to be more comfortable in golf swing postures than commercial golf shirts.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.11-21
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• 1997

The purpose of this study is to obtain 3-dimensional isocomfort workspace using the robot kinematics, which is based on perceived discomfort in varying postures for manipulating four types of controls. Fifteen healthy male subjects participated in the experiment where their perceived discomfort in the given postures was measured, in which L32 orthogonal array was adopted. The shoulder flexion and adduction-abduction, elbow flexion, types of controls, and right/left hands were selected as experimental variables. The results showed that the shoulder flexion and adduction-abduction, elbow flexion, and types of controls significantly affected the perceived discomfort at .alpha. =0.01. Depending upon the types of control used, regression equations predicting perceived dis- comfort and three dimensional isocomfort workspace were suggested based on the experiemntal cata. Using the equations, driver's isocomfort workspace in his/her cabin for pushing operation was illustrated, in which the robot kinematics was employed to describe the translational relationships between the upper arm and the lower arm/hand. It was ecpected that isocomfort workspace could be used as a valuable guideline to design workplaces ergonomically.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to analyze human upper body surface changes at the shoulder and back area. The body surface data were analyzed in terms of muscle and bone displacement in dynamic postures. Body surface data were collected with a 3D body scanner. The body surface was scanned at the static and four baseball batting postures. The body surface dimensions over the deltoids, scapulae and trapezius were measured. The results show that the vertical measurements of the deltoids increased by 20%. The horizontal measurements of the axilla of the back increased. The surface of the trapezius was elongated by over 10%, and the lower back musculature was elongated by about 50%. The results of this study showed that changes in back body surface caused by upper arm movements. It was influenced by the deltoid articulated with the humeri and the scapulae and trapezius. These body surface changes caused by muscle activities and ranges of motion can be used to design functional clothing.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.74-83
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• 2019

This study designs a squat posture recognition system that can provide correct squat posture guidelines. This system comprises two modules: a Kinect camera for monitoring users' body movements and a Wii Balance Board(WBB) for measuring balanced postures with legs. Squat posture recognition involves two states: "Stand" and "Squat." Further, each state is divided into two postures: correct and incorrect. The incorrect postures of the Stand and Squat states were classified into three and two different types of postures, respectively. The factors that determine whether a posture is incorrect or correct include the difference between shoulder width and ankle width, knee angle, and coordinate of center of pressure(CoP). An expert and 10 participants participated in experiments, and the three factors used to determine the posture were measured using both Kinect and WBB. The acquired data from each device show that the expert's posture is more stable than that of the subjects. This data was classified using a support vector machine (SVM) and $na{\ddot{i}}ve$ Bayes classifier. The classification results showed that the accuracy achieved using the SVM and $na{\ddot{i}}ve$ Bayes classifier was 95.61% and 81.82%, respectively. Therefore, the developed system that used Kinect and WBB could classify correct and incorrect postures with high accuracy. Unlike in other studies, we obtained the spatial coordinates using Kinect and measured the length of the body. The balance of the body was measured using CoP coordinates obtained from the WBB, and meaningful results were obtained from the measured values. Finally, the developed system can help people analyze the squat posture easily and conveniently anywhere and can help present correct squat posture guidelines. By using this system, users can easily analyze the squat posture in daily life and suggest safe and accurate postures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.19 no.4 s.68
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• pp.123-128
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• 2004

This study investigated effect of arm posture, repetition of wrist motion and external load on perceived discomfort. The arm postures were controlled by shoulder flexion, elbow flexion, and ist motions such as flexion, extension, radial deviation and ulnar deviation. An experiment was conducted to measure discomfort scores for experimental treatments using the magnitude estimation, in which the L16 orthogonal array was adopted for reducing the size of experiment. The results showed that while the effect of the shoulder flexion, repetition of wrist motion and external load was statistically significant at $\alpha=0.05$or 0.10, that of the elbow and wrist motions was not. Discomfor ratings increased linearly as levels of wrist repetition and external load increased. This implies that the existing posture classification schemes such as OWAS, RULA, which do not properly consider effect of motion repetition and external load, may underestimate postural load. Based on the regression equation for wrist repetition and external load, isocomfort region indicating the region within which discomfort scores were expected to be the same was proposed. It is recommended that when assessing risk of postures or developing new posture classification schemes, motion repetition and external load as well as posture itself be fully taken into consideration for precisely evaluating postural stress.