Occupational Biomechanics provides the foundations and tools for gathering and evaluating biomechanical processes with an emphasis on improving overall work efficiency and preventing work-related injuries.
Summary
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- 1 Origin and development
- 2 Objective
- 3 Rationale
- 4 Field of Application
- 5 Sources
Origin and development
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a major health problem in all industrialized countries, and affect workers in all sectors and occupations regardless of age and gender , being one of the leading causes of absenteeism. Unfavorable ergonomic conditions in the workplace are part of the factors that contribute to the appearance of these musculoskeletal disorders. Among them are repetitive microtrauma disorders or Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs), which are usually located in the upper extremities. This type of injury, which mainly affects the soft tissues ( muscles ,tendons and their sheaths and nerves ), originate from the application of sustained or repeated mechanical stresses, such as repetitive movements in industrial tasks.
Many repetitive microtrauma MSDs can be prevented through ergonomic interventions that modify work and workplaces based on assessment of risk factors. Biomechanics is heavily involved in understanding and preventing such disorders. This has been recognized at least since the beginning of the 20th century (Tichauer, 1975 ) and gave rise to the specialty of Occupational Biomechanics (Tichauer, 1975; Chaffin, 1987 ), of great importance for the multidisciplinary exercise of ergonomics .
Currently, the study of the level of risk of suffering a repetitive motion injury is limited to qualitative indirect methods, checklist type. These forms are filled in manually, during the observation of the task or from video recordings .
Goal
Its main objective is the study of the body in order to obtain maximum performance, resolve some type of disability , or design tasks and activities so that most people can perform them without risk of harm or injury.
rationale
Occupational Biomechanics studies the interaction of the human body with the elements with which it is related in various areas (at work, at home , in driving cars , in handling tools )., etc.) to suit your needs and capabilities. In this area it is related to another discipline such as ergonomics. Occupational Biomechanics provides the foundations and tools to gather and evaluate biomechanical processes as they relate to the current evolution of industries, with an emphasis on improving overall work efficiency and preventing work-related injuries. is closely related to medical engineering and information from various sources, offers a coherent treatment of the principles underlying biomechanics, well designed and related to work ergonomics, which is the science that is responsible for adapting the human body to tasks and work tools.
Scope
One of the areas where the participation of biomechanics specialists is important is in the evaluation and redesign of tasks and jobs for people who have suffered injuries or have presented problems due to ATDs, since a person who has been incapacitated by this type of problems should not return to the same job without having carried out an evaluation and the pertinent modifications, since it is very likely that the damage suffered is irreversible and will suffer in a short time. In the same way, it is convenient to evaluate the task and the position where the injury occurred, since if another person occupies it, there is a high possibility that they will suffer the same damage after spending some time in the activity.