OBJECTIVE Assessments of potential risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) from large, national study populations using personal interviews are critical to our understanding of exposure-response relationships. To address this need, we analyzed two outcome measures--self-reported back pain and upper extremity pain--from the quality of work life (QWL) module of the General Social Survey...

Craniofacial growth is a scientific crossroad for the fundamental mechanisms of musculoskeletal physiology. Better understanding of growth and development will provide new insights into repair, regeneration and adaptation to applied loads. Traditional craniofacial growth concepts are insufficient to explain the dynamics of airway/vocal tract development, cranial rotation, basicranial flexion an...

This paper presents a measurement-driven, musculoskeletal, full-body simulation model for biomechanical analysis of the double-poling (DP) technique in cross-country skiing. DP is a fast and powerful full-body movement; therefore, it is interesting to examine whether inverse dynamics using static optimization is working for a musculoskeletal full-body model with high accelerations, a large rang...

Interest in computer models of the human musculoskeletal system is increasing amongst clinicians and movement scientists as tools to analyze muscle and joint function in ways that are both non-invasive and inexpensive. Quantifying internal loads resulting from muscles and external forces is necessary to understand and treat movement pathologies. Current simulation methods, however, fall short o...

BACKGROUND Physical demands at work remain a leading cause of work-related injuries in industrialized countries. AIMS To use the 2003 Spanish National Survey of Work Conditions to examine prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and physical load at work. METHODS Using a representative sample of 5236 persons from the Spanish workforce, the prevalence of carrying or liftin...

Maintaining the physiologic integrity of paralyzed limbs may be critical for those with spinal cord injury (SCI) to be viable candidates for a future cure. No long-term intervention has been tested to attempt to prevent the severe musculoskeletal deterioration that occurs after SCI. The purposes of this study were to determine whether a long-term neuromuscular electrical stimulation training pr...

It is unclear whether small animals, with their high stride frequency and crouched posture, or large animals, with more tendinous limbs, are more reliant on storage and return of elastic energy during locomotion. The ostrich has a limb structure that appears to be adapted for high-speed running with long tendons and short muscle fibres. Here we investigate biomechanics of ostrich gait through g...

This study aimed to elucidate cardiovascular loads (CVL) in construction workers during work and leisure by relative heart rate (RHR) over several days. Furthermore, we sought to evaluate the level of CVL in relation to individual factors, work ability, musculoskeletal pain and subjective general health. From a group of 255 construction workers responding to the baseline questionnaire, the CVL ...

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are costly and common problem in automotive manufacturing. The research goal was to quantify MSD exposure as a function of vehicle rotation angle and region during assembly tasks. The study was conducted at the Center for Occupational Health in Automotive Manufacturing (COHAM) Laboratory. Twelve subjects participated in the study. The vehicle was divided into sev...

All previously published papers have been reproduced with permission from the publisher. ' " The great end of life is not knowledge but action! " Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) The impact of working technique on physical loads – an exposure profile among newspaper editors. Perceived muscle tension, emotional stress, psychological demands and physical load during VDU work. Toomingas A. Concorda...