ArticleAnnals of work exposures and health2021
Action Levels for the Prevention of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Neck and Upper Extremities: A Proposal.
Article in Annals of work exposures and health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ergonomics and performance of using prismatic loupes in simulated surgical tasks among surgeons - a randomized controlled, cross-over trial.Frontiers in public health · 2023Trial
- Standardizing upper arm movement definitions across observational and sensor-based methods: A Delphi consensus study among European ergonomics experts.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2026Article
- Trunk and upper arm postures and movements among older workers in physically demanding occupations.Annals of work exposures and health · 2026Article
- The effect of dental loupes on postural ergonomics during non-surgical periodontal therapy.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
- Are There Sex Differences in Wrist Velocity and Forearm Muscle Activity When Performing Identical Hand-Intensive Work Tasks?Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Sensors-Based Augmented Feedback in Ergonomics to Reduce Adverse Biomechanical Exposure in Work-Related Manual Handling-A Rapid Review of the Evidence.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The role of ergonomics training and posture exercises in surgeons' musculoskeletal system disorders.Turkish journal of surgery · 2024Article
- Association between musculoskeletal pain and exposures to awkward postures during work: a compositional analysis approach.Annals of work exposures and health · 2024Article
- A Rapid Review on the Effectiveness and Use of Wearable Biofeedback Motion Capture Systems in Ergonomics to Mitigate Adverse Postures and Movements of the Upper Body.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The Effect of Corrective and Encouraging Accumulated Vibrotactile Feedback on Work Technique Training and Motivation-A Pilot Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Correlations between Ratings and Technical Measurements in Hand-Intensive Work.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Wearable Motion Capture Devices for the Prevention of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Ergonomics-An Overview of Current Applications, Challenges, and Future Opportunities.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Evaluation of In-Cloth versus On-Skin Sensors for Measuring Trunk and Upper Arm Postures and Movements.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Ratings of Hand Activity and Force Levels among Women and Men Who Perform Identical Hand-Intensive Work Tasks.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Surgeons' physical workload in open surgery versus robot-assisted surgery and nonsurgical tasks.Surgical endoscopy · 2022Article
- How does accelerometry-measured arm elevation at work influence prospective risk of long-term sickness absence?Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2022Article
- Evaluation of a New Simplified Inertial Sensor Method against Electrogoniometer for Measuring Wrist Motion in Occupational Studies.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Concerning a Work Movement Velocity Action Level Proposed in "Action Levels for the Prevention of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Neck and Upper Extremities: A Proposal" by Inger Arvidsson et al. (2021).Annals of work exposures and health · 2022Article
- Effects of Sensor Types and Angular Velocity Computational Methods in Field Measurements of Occupational Upper Arm and Trunk Postures and Movements.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- A Wearable Sensor System for Physical Ergonomics Interventions Using Haptic Feedback.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There are several well-known risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Despite this knowledge, too many people still work in harmful conditions. The absence of occupational exposure limits (OELs) for physical workload impedes both supervision and preventive work. To prevent myalgia, tendon disorders, and nerve entrapments in the upper musculoskeletal system, we propose action levels concerning work postures, movement velocities and muscular loads recorded by wearable equipment. As an example, we propose that wrist velocity should not exceed 20°/s as a median over a working day. This has the potential to reduce the prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in highly exposed male occupational groups by 93%. By reducing upper arm velocity in highly exposed female groups to the suggested action level 60°/s, the prevalence of pronounced neck/shoulder myalgia with clinical findings (tension neck syndrome) could be reduced by 22%. Furthermore, we propose several other action levels for the physical workload. Our ambition is to start a discussion concerning limits for physical workload, with the long-term goal that OELs shall be introduced in legislation. Obviously, the specific values of the proposed action levels can, and should, be discussed. We hope that quantitative measurements, combined with action levels, will become an integral part of systematic occupational health efforts, enabling reduction and prevention of work-related MSDs.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.