PhD thesis - Annemarie Laudanski
This project aims to develop a monitoring system for high knee flexion postures within childcare settings based on movement (IMU) and muscle activity (EMG) data collected during simulated childcare related tasks within a laboratory setting.
Childcare workers spend significant portions of their working hours in deep knee bending postures and commonly report knee pain yet the link between these is not well understood. Due to the active nature of childcare and security needs of the children being cared for, a non-video based measurement tool is needed to measure the postures associated with increased physical injury risk. We therefore have designed a study to simulate tasks frequently adopted by childcare workers which elicit the adoption of knee bending postures by parents interacting with their children in a laboratory setting from which a wearable sensor based monitoring system can be developed.
Participants will be invited to perform a series of childcare related tasks (e.g. reading, playing with blocks, simulated feeding, etc) within our laboratory while their muscle activity and limb motion are measured. While performing these tasks, participants will interact with their child (who is older than 4 months yet has not started kindergarten or reached 4 years of age) in order to realistically simulate motions as would be performed in childcare. Only the body postures and limb motion of the participant, the parent, will be measured while no instrumentation will be attached to their child and in no way will the child’s motion be recorded. Participants will also be asked to complete brief surveys on their history of injuries and movement ability. The data collected will be used to develop and validate the monitoring system in order to apply it to on-the-job measurements of occupational postures. The system will ultimately provide accurate data on how long and how often knee bending postures are assumed by childcare providers, information which is essential in the assessment of injury risk in the workplace.
Those who have an injury or disability that makes it impossible to independently care for their child will be excluded."
This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee.
Annemarie is currently seeking participants, so please feel free to contact her or Dr. Acker below if you are interested in participating.