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ISSN 1051-9815 (P)
ISSN 1875-9270 (E)
Impact Factor 2024: 1.7
WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary, international journal which publishes high quality peer-reviewed manuscripts covering the entire scope of the occupation of work. The journal's subtitle has been deliberately laid out: The first goal is the prevention of illness, injury, and disability. When this goal is not achievable, the attention focuses on assessment to design client-centered intervention, rehabilitation, treatment, or controls that use scientific evidence to support best practice.
WORK occasionally publishes thematic issues, but in general, issues cover a wide range of topics such as ergonomic considerations with children, youth and students, the challenges facing an aging workforce, workplace violence, injury management, performing artists, ergonomic product evaluations, and the awareness of the political, cultural, and environmental determinants of health related to work.
Dr. Karen Jacobs, the founding editor, and her editorial board especially encourage the publication of research studies, clinical practice, case study reports, as well as personal narratives and critical reflections of lived work experiences (autoethnographic/autobiographic scholarship),
Sounding Board commentaries and
Speaking of Research articles which provide the foundation for better understanding research to facilitate knowledge dissemination.
Narrative Reflections on Occupational Transitions, a new column, is for persons who have successfully transitioned into, between, or out of occupations to tell their stories in a narrative form. With an internationally renowned editorial board,
WORK maintains high standards in the evaluation and publication of manuscripts. All manuscripts are reviewed expeditiously and published in a timely manner.
WORK prides itself on being an author-friendly journal.
WORK celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2015.
*WORK is affiliated with the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT)* *WORK is endorsed by the International Ergonomics Association (IEA)* *WORK gives out the yearly Cheryl Bennett Best Paper Award*
Abstract: This study investigates the effects of the number of interpolation points on the prediction accuracy of segment angle trajectory during lifting. Ten participants performed various lifting tasks while a motion tracking system recorded their movements. Two-point through ten-point equal time-spaced segment angles extracted from major segment trajectory data captured by the motion tracking system were used to re-generate the whole body lifting motion by using polynomial and cubic spline interpolation methods. The root mean square error (RMSE) between the reference (motion tracking system) and the estimated (interpolation method) segment angle trajectories were calculated to quantify the prediction accuracy. The results…showed that the cubic spline interpolation will yield a smaller RMSE value than one based on the polynomial interpolation. While increasing the number of interpolation points can reduce the RMSE of the estimated segment angle trajectories, there was a diminishing advantage in continuing to add interpolation points. A sensitivity analysis suggests that if the estimation of the segment angles at each interpolation point deviates considerably from the real value, and cannot be controlled at a low level (<10 (), the use of higher number of interpolation points will not improve the estimation accuracy.
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Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to determine the association between prevalence of low back disorders in female workers and biomechanical demands of compressive and shear forces at the lumbar spine. A descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study was carried out in 11 groups of female workers in the Province of Concepción. An interview was performed to investigate the prevalence of low back pain. To estimate biomechanical demands on the lumbar spine, it was used the 3DSSPP software. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the prevalence of low back disorders and peak compression force at the lumbar spine was r = (p<0.005).…The Spearman correlation coefficient between the prevalence of low back disorders and peak shear force was r = 0.9 (p <0.005). To protect 90% of female workers studied, the limits of compression and shear forces should be at 2.8 kN and 0.3 kN, respectively. These values differ from the recommendations currently used, 3.4 kN for peak compression force and 0.5 kN for peak shear force.
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Keywords: low back pain, women, handling load, compression force, shear force
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0466-2364
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 2364-2369, 2012
Abstract: The occupational exposure limits of different risk factors for development of low back disorders (LBDs) have not yet been established. One of the main problems in setting such guidelines is the limited understanding of how different risk factors for LBDs interact in causing injury, since the nature and mechanism of these disorders are relatively unknown phenomena. Industrial ergonomists’ role becomes further complicated because the potential risk factors that may contribute towards the onset of LBDs interact in a complex manner, which makes it difficult to discriminate in detail among the jobs that place workers at high or low risk of…LBDs. The purpose of this paper was to develop a comparative study between predictions based on the neural network-based model proposed by Zurada, Karwowski & Marras (1997) and a linear discriminant analysis model, for making predictions about industrial jobs according to their potential risk of low back disorders due to workplace design. The results obtained through applying the discriminant analysis-based model proved that it is as effective as the neural network-based model. Moreover, the discriminant analysis-based model proved to be more advantageous regarding cost and time savings for future data gathering.
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Abstract: The present study, a part of the PROOF (PRedicting Occupational biomechanics in OFfice workers) study, aimed to determine whether trapezius muscle effort was different across computer activities in a field study of computer workers, and also investigated whether head and shoulder postures were different across computer activities. One hundred twenty participants were measured continuously for two hours each while performing their own computer work. Keyboard activities were associated with the highest intensity of left and right trapezius muscle efforts, and mouse activities were associated with the smallest variability in left and right trapezius muscle efforts. Corresponding trends in head and…shoulder postures included that the greatest head flexion and left and right shoulder internal rotation was observed during keyboard activities, and that the smallest variability in head flexion, head lateral tilt, and right shoulder internal rotation was observed during mouse activities. Identifying which muscle efforts and postures are different across computer activities is the first essential step for developing prediction rules for muscle efforts and postures, which can be used to link muscle efforts and postures to musculoskeletal symptoms in epidemiological studies.
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Abstract: Adoption of the stooped posture in the workplace is widespread throughout the world in agriculture, construction, and mining. This type of posture has been established as a risk factor for developing low back disorders (LBDs). The purpose of this study is to evaluate a personal weight transfer device as a possible intervention to reduce the load on the lumbar spine, thereby reducing the risk of developing LBDs. Eighteen healthy subjects performed stooped posture tasks in a laboratory study designed to simulate harvesting of low-growing crops. Results showed that when wearing the device in the static stooped posture, biceps femoris activity…was reduced by 17%, lumbar flexion was reduced by 12%, ankle plantar-flexion increased by 5%, and the lumbar erector spinae of those subjects who did not experience flexion-relaxation of the erector spinae was reduced by 26%. Hip and knee flexion were not significantly altered. Therefore, the device may be beneficial for those with existing LBDs, and who use the stooped posture routinely.
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Keywords: weight transfer device, ergonomic intervention, electromyography
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0469-2381
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 2381-2383, 2012
Abstract: Stooped work has been shown to be associated with the development of low back disorders, particularly those that affect the spinal intervertebral discs. Although several studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of physical factors on disc health, little research has focused on the effect of prolonged stooped work on disc hydration- a critical component of disc health. The purpose of this study is to explore the connection between stooped work and low back pain through controlled mechanical loading and quantitative analysis of disc hydration during in vitro simulated stooped and erect loading conditions of porcine discs. The results…showed that stooped postures exhibit significantly decreased overall water content relative to erect postures. Since as disc hydration forms the foundation for overall disc health and proper function, these results have implications for the injury mechanisms associated with stooped work.
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Keywords: Low back disorders, biomechanics, back pain
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0470-2384
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 2384-2386, 2012
Abstract: Eleven healthy volunteers took part in three sessions where computer work was performed for 10 min in each session. The recordings were made on two consecutive days. After the first session, the subjects underwent a series of high intensity eccentric exercises of shoulder elevation to induce muscle soreness. The second session was performed immediately after the exercises and third session 24 hours after the exercise. Surface electromyography (EMG) of descending and ascending trapezius, deltoideus anterior and serratus anterior was recorded. Exposure variation analysis (EVA) centroid and marginal distribution was computed. Principle component analysis (PCA) was performed on both cases. Describing…more than 80% of variance, first eight components for EVA marginal distributions and first four ones for EVA centroid were picked to be investigated. The sole EVA amplitude levels played a practically significant role to describe the variation in EVA marginal distribution. However, a significant pattern of load redistribution to superficial muscles was not found. This may suggest investigating the role of deep muscles in redistribution of load during computer work in response to high level eccentric contractions.
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Abstract: Psychosocial factors, individual factors, workplace requirements, and workplace organizational factors have all been reported as being associated with the risk of musculoskeletal disorders [11]. Huang, Feuerstein, and Sauter [5] described the various concepts and models proposed to link occupational stress and work-related upper extremity disorders, as well as the difficulty in verifying the suggested linkages. Huang et al. [5] suggested that decomposing a complex model would be an appropriate method to begin the investigations of the proposed models. Task repetition is a workplace requirement that is considered a potential risk factor for cumulative trauma and its relationship to psychosocial factors…was investigated. The study found only weak to no statistically significant relationship between task repetition and reported psychosocial factors of job stress in workers in Taiwan.
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Abstract: Farming is a physically arduous occupation that places farm workers' at potential risk of musculoskeletal disorders, which has been observed to impose a greater impact on their health. Each activity in agriculture brings about certain stress and strain on bones and muscles leading to work-related musculoskeletal disorders which can lead to several permanent diseases and disabilities. The purpose of analyzing musculoskeletal problems among male and female workers engaged in agriculture was to know about the risk factors dangerous to health so that interventions can be planned for mitigating them thereby increasing the efficiency of work. Educational intervention included audio-visual aids…as well as printed literature. It was hoped that awareness of these factors through dissemination of information would contribute at preventing hazards amongst farmers and their families. The results revealed that the workers reported very severe to severe pain in low back while performing agricultural activities. Weeding was the most strenuous activity for females and threshing crop for males. Training and education on MSDs through educational intervention proved that the knowledge of the farm workers could be enhanced and can help reduce risk of many musculoskeletal problems. It can be help in empowering the community and mitigate MSDs in agriculture.
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Keywords: musculoskeletal problems, body discomfort, educational intervention
DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0473-2398
Citation: Work,
vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 2398-2404, 2012
Abstract: Interacting with touchscreen computer systems is a challenging task for elderly tremor patients, because of a lower input accuracy caused by their tremor symptoms. Previous observations by Mertens et al. suggested that continuous movements are able to lower these symptoms. In this paper Swabbing, a input method for touchscreen systems based on such motions, is presented. A user study will show that Swabbing is able to reduce the error rate while proving equal user satisfaction compared to standard input techniques. Furthermore reasons for these benefits will be argued and explained with the use of accuracy measures by MacKenzie et al.…In the end possible future enhancements of Swabbing will be discussed.
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