Two new papers were recently accepted to be published in the journal Ergonomics. The focus of these two research studies were identifying shoulder muscle fatigue onset, and evaluating off-axis upper extremity joint moments and forces during pushing and pulling. Both provide ergonomics practitioners with useful information about what to consider during task analysis.
The first was submitted by Rachel Whittaker, a recent MSc graduate. Her research is entitled "Algorthmically detectable directional changes in upper extremity motion indicate substantial myoelectric shoulder muscle fatigue during a repetitive manual task". Repetitive workplace tasks are associated with fatigue-induced changes to muscular shoulder strategies (such as altered movement patterns). Rachel determined an algorithm could detect changes in joint motion related to the onset of substantial muscle fatigue, highlighting the potential of this as a useful approach for workplace fatigue identification! Nicholas La Delfa, PhD and Clark Dickerson, PhD are also authors on this study.
The second paper is by Stephanie Borgs, another MSc graduate from DIESEL and is entitled "An evaluation of off-axis manual forces and upper extremity joint moments during unilateral pushing and pulling exertions". Many workplace tasks require a constrained arm posture which can influence the production of off-axis forces during manual force application. Stephanie's findings suggest that the simplification of manual force estimates during proactive ergonomic assessments is insufficient and potentially misleading. Nicholas La Delfa, PhD and Clark Dickerson, PhD are also authors on this study.
Lots of hard work goes into a successful manuscript submission and acceptance. Congratulations to you both! DIESEL is also extremely proud of the fact that these two papers represent # 100 and # 101 of our all-time publications total.