Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

ICS Travel Award Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the leading cause of lost-time claims in Ontario, and are a significant burden to society costing employers an estimated $1 billion between 2003 and 2007(1). Ergonomists work to identify workplace risks for MSDs so as to improve worker health and safety. Fast and proactive estimates of MSD risks can be achieved using avatars in virtual reality workstation simulations. When performing these simulations, an assumption is often made that all workers move in an optimal way using the safest posture possible. Despite this over-generalization, this technology has led to significant health-related benefits to workers(2). Research is now needed to account for the fact that there are often multiple ways to perform a given task. Behavioural scientists predict that movements are chosen based on perceived comfort rather than optimal injury-prevention criteria. The present study examined movement patterns during simple reaching tasks in order to better understand the role that comfort plays in how people choose to move, rather than how they ought to move. Twelve participants were asked to pick up a waist-height key-like disk and insert it into a shoulder-height target while their hand orientation was tracked using a motion capture system. Task comfort was manipulated by altering the position of the disk and the target location between trials. Posture differences were compared across 24 different conditions. The study findings help inform when, why, and how movement choices put people at a greater risk of MSDs. By understanding how people actually choose to move, and their movement variability, ergonomists can using advanced ergonomic technology. 1. Ontario MOL. (2009) 2. Thorton J. (2009)