Postural Analysis: Description of a Dedicated System. An Upgrade

BackgroundIn June 2021 an aericle was published describing a possible ssystem to perform postural analysis. In six months use, the ssystem has more clarely showed its lights and shadoes. So the author tought some improvements of the sustem that are now ready to be applyed. This article will show them in details.Materials and MethodsUpgrade interested both aspects close connected to the analysis and both connected to its management .ResultsFirst results obtained are interesting and encourage the use of the upgrades introduced. However a more long period of use is necessary to confirm first resultas.ConclusionsUpgrading is a natural step in every life project. And it is made up not only by a single step. So also this system may be further improved with other upgrades in the future.

Drudgery assessment and ergonomic evaluation of pedal operated Ragi (Eleusine Coracana) thresher

BACKGROUND: Ragi (Eleusine Coracana) is a major food crop for the tribal population of India. OBJECTIVE: This study emphasizes the need to consider ergonomics aspects in the design and development of a pedal operated ragi thresher (PORT) for tribal people, and assesses the drudgery as well as ergonomic evaluation of a developed thresher against the conventional practice. METHODS: Thirty subjects (male = 15 and female = 15) from the tribal region were evaluated ergonomically. The physiological responses of the subjects were studied and their performance was compared. RESULTS: The results revealed that the working heart rate, oxygen consumption rate and overall discomfort rating were significantly higher in case of traditional threshing as compared to those in case of PORT. Postural analysis identified the traditional method as the most fatigue one as the person has to lift the hand above shoulder level repeatedly and has to sit in a squatting posture for long period. CONCLUSION: The drudgery and occupational hazards to public health involved in the traditional method of threshing was reduced by using the pedal operated ragi thresher. Furthermore, the traditional method involved continuous stressed actions across the entire body, whereas the PORT involved only the lower limbs.

Postural Analysis on Manual Pine Resin Collecting Work: Lifting Index and L5/S1 Compression-Shear Forces

Even though pine oleoresin harvesting is labor-intensive forestry work involving manual material handling (especially lifting) and is massively carried out in Indonesia, there is a lack of ergonomics studies on manual pine oleoresin harvesting. This study focused on lifting-related postures in pine oleoresin harvesting. A Three Dimension Static Strength Prediction Program Version 7.1.0 was used to identify the injury risk on the lower back (lumbosacral joint, L5/S1) using biomechanical criteria (compression and shear forces) at extreme postures. Recommended Weight Limit (RWL) and Lifting Index (LI) were calculated for a comprehensive analysis. The exceeding compression and shear forces indicated that the L5/S1 injury risk on oleoresin collecting work (part of oleoresin harvesting) is high. The psychophysical analysis confirmed the findings, as several main postures in this work were categorized as intense manual lifting due to the excessive score of LI. A significant reduction in the L5/S1 compression and shear forces were shown at a simulation using a proposed load threshold (using the calculated RWL). Keywords: biomechanics, ergonomics, forestry work, manual lifting, oleoresin harvesting

Postural Analysis of Male Football Athletes from Different Age Levels of Training

Introduction: The definition of body posture involves a relative arrangement of body parts. Football is the most popular sport in the world with an injury rate of 4.47 injuries per 1000 hours of play/training per athlete. Photogrammetry is a valid and reproductive method for evaluating postural differences with quantitative and accurate results. The aim of this study is to present a postural analysis of children and young football players, using photogrammetry. Method: The sample consisted of 263 athletes (ages between 4 and 18 years) where, through the photographic register and use of SAPO® software the main postural deviations of the children were calculated and subsequently analyzed descriptively in the IBM SPSS software. Results: The results obtained show deviations in point A1 - alignment of the acromion (21.4% to 50% of athletes on the right (R) and 16.7% to 40.5% of athletes on the left (L); A2 - alignment of the anterosuperior iliac spine (42.9% of athletes to (R) and 14.3% to 64.9% to the left (L); A3 alignment of tibia tuberosities (27.9% to 55% of athletes (R), 27% to 48.5% of athletes (L); A4 and A5 – angle Q (R and L) (50% to 91% of athletes with tendency to knee varus); A6 – horizontal alignment of the pelvis (tendency to hyperlordosis of 28% for juveniles with an average deviation of -15.4° ± 7.7). Conclusion: The postural analysis of the athletes allows a better knowledge about the most frequent deviations that, over time, can become painful, being important an intervention and specific planning at this level, trying to prevent future injuries.

Postural Analysis: Description of a Dedicated System

Background Dispite of postural analysis is a fundamental tool for evaluating the neuromusculoskeletal structure of a subject a unique formal analysis process has not yet been determined. The aim of this work is to propose a postural analysis protocol t promote discussion with other practitioners so as to make continuous improvements in the proposed protocol to provide a tool that can serve the needs of specialists even more efficiently. Materials and Methods The proposed system consists of four subsystems: medical history data, photographic references, overall observations, and tests. Results Even though the initial results are encouraging, additional use of the described analysis system is considered essential to improve the technique and the skills of the operator. In this light, specific requests and observations from other professionals are essential, and obtaining these requests and observations is one of the purposes of the present article, as initially declared. Conclusions The proposed postural analysis system represents a good balance of various, often opposing needs, being easily completed and reasonably fast and repeatable, making it possible to compare time series data.

Postural Analysis: Description of a Dedicated System

Background Dispite of postural analysis is a fundamental tool for evaluating the neuromusculoskeletal structure of a subject a unique formal analysis process has not yet been determined. The aim of this work is to propose a postural analysis protocol t promote discussion with other practitioners so as to make continuous improvements in the proposed protocol to provide a tool that can serve the needs of specialists even more efficiently. Materials and Methods The proposed system consists of four subsystems: medical history data, photographic references, overall observations, and tests. Results Even though the initial results are encouraging, additional use of the described analysis system is considered essential to improve the technique and the skills of the operator. In this light, specific requests and observations from other professionals are essential, and obtaining these requests and observations is one of the purposes of the present article, as initially declared. Conclusions The proposed postural analysis system represents a good balance of various, often opposing needs, being easily completed and reasonably fast and repeatable, making it possible to compare time series data.

Enhancing Working Posture Comparability in Forest Operations by the Use of Similarity Metrics

Forest operations are well known in exposing their workers to many risk factors, and they often require ergonomic interventions for improvement. In this regard, evaluation of biomechanical exposure has gained a lot of interest due to the concerning scientific results repeatedly showing the association between poor working postures and the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Due to its simplicity, easy understanding, cost affordability, and the capability to evaluate the whole body, the OWAS method has been commonly used in postural evaluation of forestry work, being able to map the experimental observations in a final action category, in the form of a postural risk index (PRI), which helps designing or taking actions for ergonomic improvement. However, postural comparability is both relevant and important when, for instance, one tries to improve a work method or to introduce a new technology. Unfortunately, the PRI metric holds a rather low capability to characterize the changes brought by such factors in terms of postural dissimilarity or similarity, making it difficult to accurately follow the changes. For this reason, we introduce in the postural analysis, test and discuss herein two commonly used similarity metrics as specific to plant sociology and other ecology-related sciences, namely the Sørensen’s quotient of similarity (hereafter QS) and the Canberra metric (hereafter CM); their selection was based on their mathematical capabilities of dealing with data at two resolutions, namely species and individuals. Three case studies were setup to show the differences between QS, CM, and PRI and their usefulness for postural analysis while, for a better understanding, the results were described and discussed by analogy to the living world. As the technology of automating data collection and processing for postural analysis is in progress, the utility of similarity metrics in postural assessment and comparison could be further expanded so as to map a given work sequence in the time domain against best-fit postural profiles. The main conclusion of this study is that the PRI is useful for action-taking while the similarity metrics are useful for pairwise postural change evaluations and comparison.

Working posture analysis of construction workers using ergonomics.

Ergonomics integrates knowledge from the human sciences to match jobs, systems, products, and environments to the physical and mental abilities and limitations of people. Most of the injuries, stresses and strains in construction industry occur due to over-exertion and repetitive work actions. Postural analysis can be a powerful technique for assessing work activities. Use of ergonomic principles reduces fatigue experienced by the human body in various tasks. Ergonomics deals with the study of internal and external stresses acting on the human body. The aim of this study is to assess the level of ergonomics in various tasks in the construction industry .The study also aims to find the level of musculoskeletal disorders in workers and suggest corrective measures for every task having high risk factor. The study is conducted by using the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) tool of Ergofellow software, to assess the posture of workers in various construction tasks. Fatigue analysis is done by this method, which provides a scoring system for muscle activity caused by static, dynamic, rapid changing or unstable postures. Keywords: Ergonomics, REBA, Musculoskeletal Disorders.

Of Dust and Dollars

This chapter explores the self-branding of the contemporary Dutch poet Ellen Deckwitz. Explicitly referring to herself as ‘the product Ellen Deckwitz’, this author uniquely defines her career as a poet in terms of branding. The chapter provides a vivisection of this self-proclaimed ‘product’ through an in-depth postural analysis. It shows how Deckwitz creates the posture of an authoritative yet relatable poetry-entrepreneur who considers herself to be the flag-bearer of the younger generation, a rhetorical strategy that enables her to blend economic and symbolic capital. This, in turn, makes it possible for Deckwitz to cater to both a highbrow and a mass audience, by effectively resisting the widespread clichés evoked by the term ‘poetry’.