Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, Aug 1, 1993
Electromyographic (EMG) measurements and interviews concerning muscular pain and disability were ... more Electromyographic (EMG) measurements and interviews concerning muscular pain and disability were performed prospectively every 10th week on 30 healthy new female employees of a chocolate manufacturing plant. The static muscle activity and rate of short unconscious interruptions in EMG activity (EMG gaps) of the trapezius muscle during repetitive work tasks were evaluated as possible risk factors for patient status with trapezius myalgia. At the start of employment, the static and median contraction levels were significantly higher in future patients than in the rest of the subjects (nonpatients). In subsequent recordings these values were reduced to the level of the nonpatients. Throughout the study, the future patients had a lower frequency of EMG gaps than the nonpatients. A regression analysis showed a significant value for a low rate of EMG gaps to predict future patient status.
This article describes the symptomatology of three patients following electrical accidents. The f... more This article describes the symptomatology of three patients following electrical accidents. The flow of the current was from hand to hand, voltage was 220/380 V, and duration was at least a few seconds for all patients. The development of symptoms was the same, and may be explained as a thermal effect of electricity on the tissue. Initially the patients experienced transient confusion, followed by stiff muscles after 1 to 3 days, and then pain in the muscle attachments and joints close to path of the current. This pain increased slowly during the first two weeks. Recovery was gradual, but often incomplete. The case notes showed that electrical accidents may be followed by chronic rotator cuff tendinitis. The clinical examination also revealed a hearing loss at about 2,000 Hz and above 4,000 Hz. The neuropsychological testing indicated a diffuse impaired function in only one patient.
Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt Lars Ole Goffeng (f. 1955) er ph.d. og psykolog med mangeårig erfar... more Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt Lars Ole Goffeng (f. 1955) er ph.d. og psykolog med mangeårig erfaring med problemstillinger omkring strømulykker. Forfatter har fylt ut ICMJE-skjemaet og oppgir ingen interessekonflikter. DAG RUNE STORMOEN Dilling Dag Rune Stormoen (f. 1985) er lege i spesialisering i allmennmedisin og har klinisk erfaring med pasienter som har vaert eksponert for strøm. Forfatter har fylt ut ICMJE-skjemaet og oppgir ingen interessekonflikter. KAJ BO VEIERSTED Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt Kaj Bo Veiersted (f. 1953) er dr.med. og spesialist i arbeidsmedisin med mangeårig erfaring med problemstillinger omkring strømulykker. Forfatter har fylt ut ICMJE-skjemaet og oppgir ingen interessekonflikter.
Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening, Sep 11, 2003
Strømulykker er alvorlige, potensielt livstruende, hendelser med betydning for spesielt hjerte-og... more Strømulykker er alvorlige, potensielt livstruende, hendelser med betydning for spesielt hjerte-og karsystem, nervesystem, muskel-og skjele system og hud (brannskader). Elektrobransjen påpeker at helsevesenets oppfølging av strømskadede er vilkårlig og derfor ikke sikrer optimal behandling. Formålet med denne artikkelen er å gjennomgå li eratur om mulige skader e er strømulykker og foreslå anbefalinger for oppfølging av personer som har vaert utsa for slike ulykker.
Aims To compare musculoskeletal pain intensity and duration of construction workers as a function... more Aims To compare musculoskeletal pain intensity and duration of construction workers as a function of type of work. Methods 239 male construction workers in active employment filled out a (baseline) questionnaire for a prospective study of jobs with assumed heavy work load. Reports of pain presented here was collected from the men in four work categories; project leaders/foremen (N = 62, age 45 y, SD ± 13), carpenters (N = 60, 41 y ± 13), concrete workers (N = 35, 42 y ± 12) and miscellaneous other manual workers (e.g. brick layers, henchmen, N = 28, 45 y ± 13). The participants were asked to report pain intensity in different body regions during the last four weeks (0: none, 1: mild, 2: moderate and 3: severe) and the duration of this pain (1: 1–5, 2: 6–10, 3: 11–14 and 4: 15–28 days). A severity index was constructed by multiplying the two recordings, intensity and duration (range 0–12). Two dichotomized variables were defined; for the intensity with a cut point ≥2 (in %) and for the index with a cut point ≥6 (in %). Five % trimmed mean is used due to skewed data. Results Low back pain was the most frequently reported pain symptom for all categories of workers (mean for all: mean intensity: 0.74, intensity ≥2: 23%, mean severity index: 1.64, index ≥6: 13%), expect carpenters that reported knee pain most frequent (mean intensity: 0.78, intensity ≥2: 26%, mean severity index: 2.08, index ≥6: 22%). The miscellaneous worker group reported the highest level of neck pain (mean intensity: 0.84, intensity ≥2: 25%, mean severity index: 2.03, index ≥6: 20%). Due to different time distribution of pain symptoms between individuals the use of pain duration gave additional information. Conclusions Most construction workers reported low levels of pain. The measurement of both intensity and duration allows computation of a proxy for pain severity.
Work-a Journal of Prevention Assessment & Rehabilitation, Mar 14, 2017
BACKGROUND Rope access technique is an alternative method for gaining access to challenging work ... more BACKGROUND Rope access technique is an alternative method for gaining access to challenging work locations. There is limited knowledge about possible adverse effects of this technique on the workers' health. OBJECTIVE To compare the frequency of bodily regions with pain in rope access technicians with craft workers and the working population in general. METHODS The one-month prevalence of pain in the head, neck, distal upper extremities, lower back and lower extremities was recorded in rope access technicians (n = 95), "craft workers" (n = 289) and "all occupations" (n = 1563). RESULTS An increased prevalence of pain in the neck, distal upper extremities and lower extremities was found for the rope access technicians compared with all occupations (p-values <0.01). Compared with the craft workers, relatively more rope access technicians reported pain in the lower extremity region (p <0.01) while the groups were similar for the other body regions. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of pain in the lower extremities was higher in rope access technicians compared with craft workers, while no differences were found for other body regions. The increased prevalence of pain in the neck and distal upper extremities in the technicians compared with all occupations may therefore be related to the work tasks and not the access technique.
Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening, Sep 11, 2003
Direktoratet for brann-og elsikkerhet mo ar gjennomsni lig 50 meldinger og Arbeidstilsynet rundt ... more Direktoratet for brann-og elsikkerhet mo ar gjennomsni lig 50 meldinger og Arbeidstilsynet rundt 150 rapporter årlig om skader forårsaket av elektrisk spenning. Mange yrkesrelaterte skader blir aldri rapportert til Arbeidstilsynet. Vi beregner forekomst av yrkesrelaterte strømulykker, og beskriver de viktigste lover og forskrifter som regulerer rapportering av disse. Forekomst og forebygging av strømulykker i arbeidslivet | Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening
Background: A systematic attempt to summarize the literature that examines working conditions and... more Background: A systematic attempt to summarize the literature that examines working conditions and occupational health among immigrant in Europe and Canada. Methods: We established inclusion criteria, searched systematically for articles included in the Medline, Embase and Social Sciences Citation Index databases in the period 2000-2016 and checked the reference lists of all included papers. Results: Eighty-two studies were included in this review; 90% were cross-sectional and 80% were based on self-report. Work injuries were consistently found to be more prevalent among immigrants in studies from different countries and in studies with different designs. The prevalence of perceived discrimination or bullying was found to be consistently higher among immigrant workers than among natives. In general, however, we found that the evidence that immigrant workers are more likely to be exposed to physical or chemical hazards and poor psychosocial working conditions is very limited. A few Scandinavian studies support the idea that occupational factors may partly contribute to the higher risk of sick leave or disability pension observed among immigrants. However, the evidence for working conditions as a potential mediator of the associations between immigrant status and poor general health and mental distress was very limited. Conclusion: Some indicators suggest that immigrant workers in Europe and Canada experience poorer working conditions and occupational health than do native workers. However, the ability to draw conclusions is limited by the large gaps in the available data, heterogeneity of immigrant working populations, and the lack of prospectively designed cohort studies.
ABSTRACT Thirty female chocolate packers were included in a prospective study to relate trapezius... more ABSTRACT Thirty female chocolate packers were included in a prospective study to relate trapezius muscle activity during work to the development of myalgia. Electromyographic (EMG) recordings and interviews on risk factors were performed at start of employment and every 10th week. The muscle activity was characterized by the averaged static and median level. Only data obtained before a possible development of severe symptoms of trapezius myalgia (patient) was used in the analysis. Seventeen of the subjects became patients within the first year of employment. Machine-stops occurred accidentally during work. At one task the stops induced a pause where the subjects passively waited for the machine to start. Twenty-one subjects experienced machine-stops of a sufficient duration to be evaluated for a potential “resting tension”. Future patients showed significantly higher “resting tension” compared to healthy controls.
Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, Jun 1, 2019
Bipolar surface EMG (sEMG) signals of the trapezius muscles bilaterally were recorded continuousl... more Bipolar surface EMG (sEMG) signals of the trapezius muscles bilaterally were recorded continuously with a frequency of 800 Hz during full-shift fieldwork by a four-channel portable data logger. After recordings of 60 forest machine operators in Finland, Norway and Sweden, we discovered erroneous data. In short of any available procedure to handle these data, a method was developed to automatically discard erroneous data in the raw data reading files (Discarding Erroneous EPOchs (DESEPO) method. The DESEPO method automatically identifies, discards and adjusts the use of signal disturbances in order to achieve the best possible data use. An epoch is a 0.1 s period of raw sEMG signals and makes the basis for the RMS calculations. If erroneous signals constitute more than 30% of the epoch signals, this classifies for discharge of the present epoch. Non-valid epochs have been discarded, as well as all the subsequent epochs. The valid data for further analyses using the automatic detection resulted in an increase of acceptable data from an average of 2.15-6.5 h per day. The combination of long-term full-shift recordings and automatic data reduction procedures made it possible to use large amount of data otherwise discarded for further analyses. part of the sEMG frequency spectrum and lead to an erroneous interpretation of the signal (Conforto et al., 1999; Frigo et al., 2000). Research and extensive efforts have been made in this area, developing better algorithms, upgrading existing methodologies, improving detection techniques to reduce noise and to acquire sEMG signals
Upper arm elevation, upper trapezius muscle activity, and neck and shoulder pain – a longitudinal... more Upper arm elevation, upper trapezius muscle activity, and neck and shoulder pain – a longitudinal study of construction and healthcare workers
Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, Aug 1, 1993
Electromyographic (EMG) measurements and interviews concerning muscular pain and disability were ... more Electromyographic (EMG) measurements and interviews concerning muscular pain and disability were performed prospectively every 10th week on 30 healthy new female employees of a chocolate manufacturing plant. The static muscle activity and rate of short unconscious interruptions in EMG activity (EMG gaps) of the trapezius muscle during repetitive work tasks were evaluated as possible risk factors for patient status with trapezius myalgia. At the start of employment, the static and median contraction levels were significantly higher in future patients than in the rest of the subjects (nonpatients). In subsequent recordings these values were reduced to the level of the nonpatients. Throughout the study, the future patients had a lower frequency of EMG gaps than the nonpatients. A regression analysis showed a significant value for a low rate of EMG gaps to predict future patient status.
This article describes the symptomatology of three patients following electrical accidents. The f... more This article describes the symptomatology of three patients following electrical accidents. The flow of the current was from hand to hand, voltage was 220/380 V, and duration was at least a few seconds for all patients. The development of symptoms was the same, and may be explained as a thermal effect of electricity on the tissue. Initially the patients experienced transient confusion, followed by stiff muscles after 1 to 3 days, and then pain in the muscle attachments and joints close to path of the current. This pain increased slowly during the first two weeks. Recovery was gradual, but often incomplete. The case notes showed that electrical accidents may be followed by chronic rotator cuff tendinitis. The clinical examination also revealed a hearing loss at about 2,000 Hz and above 4,000 Hz. The neuropsychological testing indicated a diffuse impaired function in only one patient.
Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt Lars Ole Goffeng (f. 1955) er ph.d. og psykolog med mangeårig erfar... more Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt Lars Ole Goffeng (f. 1955) er ph.d. og psykolog med mangeårig erfaring med problemstillinger omkring strømulykker. Forfatter har fylt ut ICMJE-skjemaet og oppgir ingen interessekonflikter. DAG RUNE STORMOEN Dilling Dag Rune Stormoen (f. 1985) er lege i spesialisering i allmennmedisin og har klinisk erfaring med pasienter som har vaert eksponert for strøm. Forfatter har fylt ut ICMJE-skjemaet og oppgir ingen interessekonflikter. KAJ BO VEIERSTED Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt Kaj Bo Veiersted (f. 1953) er dr.med. og spesialist i arbeidsmedisin med mangeårig erfaring med problemstillinger omkring strømulykker. Forfatter har fylt ut ICMJE-skjemaet og oppgir ingen interessekonflikter.
Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening, Sep 11, 2003
Strømulykker er alvorlige, potensielt livstruende, hendelser med betydning for spesielt hjerte-og... more Strømulykker er alvorlige, potensielt livstruende, hendelser med betydning for spesielt hjerte-og karsystem, nervesystem, muskel-og skjele system og hud (brannskader). Elektrobransjen påpeker at helsevesenets oppfølging av strømskadede er vilkårlig og derfor ikke sikrer optimal behandling. Formålet med denne artikkelen er å gjennomgå li eratur om mulige skader e er strømulykker og foreslå anbefalinger for oppfølging av personer som har vaert utsa for slike ulykker.
Aims To compare musculoskeletal pain intensity and duration of construction workers as a function... more Aims To compare musculoskeletal pain intensity and duration of construction workers as a function of type of work. Methods 239 male construction workers in active employment filled out a (baseline) questionnaire for a prospective study of jobs with assumed heavy work load. Reports of pain presented here was collected from the men in four work categories; project leaders/foremen (N = 62, age 45 y, SD ± 13), carpenters (N = 60, 41 y ± 13), concrete workers (N = 35, 42 y ± 12) and miscellaneous other manual workers (e.g. brick layers, henchmen, N = 28, 45 y ± 13). The participants were asked to report pain intensity in different body regions during the last four weeks (0: none, 1: mild, 2: moderate and 3: severe) and the duration of this pain (1: 1–5, 2: 6–10, 3: 11–14 and 4: 15–28 days). A severity index was constructed by multiplying the two recordings, intensity and duration (range 0–12). Two dichotomized variables were defined; for the intensity with a cut point ≥2 (in %) and for the index with a cut point ≥6 (in %). Five % trimmed mean is used due to skewed data. Results Low back pain was the most frequently reported pain symptom for all categories of workers (mean for all: mean intensity: 0.74, intensity ≥2: 23%, mean severity index: 1.64, index ≥6: 13%), expect carpenters that reported knee pain most frequent (mean intensity: 0.78, intensity ≥2: 26%, mean severity index: 2.08, index ≥6: 22%). The miscellaneous worker group reported the highest level of neck pain (mean intensity: 0.84, intensity ≥2: 25%, mean severity index: 2.03, index ≥6: 20%). Due to different time distribution of pain symptoms between individuals the use of pain duration gave additional information. Conclusions Most construction workers reported low levels of pain. The measurement of both intensity and duration allows computation of a proxy for pain severity.
Work-a Journal of Prevention Assessment & Rehabilitation, Mar 14, 2017
BACKGROUND Rope access technique is an alternative method for gaining access to challenging work ... more BACKGROUND Rope access technique is an alternative method for gaining access to challenging work locations. There is limited knowledge about possible adverse effects of this technique on the workers' health. OBJECTIVE To compare the frequency of bodily regions with pain in rope access technicians with craft workers and the working population in general. METHODS The one-month prevalence of pain in the head, neck, distal upper extremities, lower back and lower extremities was recorded in rope access technicians (n = 95), "craft workers" (n = 289) and "all occupations" (n = 1563). RESULTS An increased prevalence of pain in the neck, distal upper extremities and lower extremities was found for the rope access technicians compared with all occupations (p-values <0.01). Compared with the craft workers, relatively more rope access technicians reported pain in the lower extremity region (p <0.01) while the groups were similar for the other body regions. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of pain in the lower extremities was higher in rope access technicians compared with craft workers, while no differences were found for other body regions. The increased prevalence of pain in the neck and distal upper extremities in the technicians compared with all occupations may therefore be related to the work tasks and not the access technique.
Tidsskrift for Den Norske Laegeforening, Sep 11, 2003
Direktoratet for brann-og elsikkerhet mo ar gjennomsni lig 50 meldinger og Arbeidstilsynet rundt ... more Direktoratet for brann-og elsikkerhet mo ar gjennomsni lig 50 meldinger og Arbeidstilsynet rundt 150 rapporter årlig om skader forårsaket av elektrisk spenning. Mange yrkesrelaterte skader blir aldri rapportert til Arbeidstilsynet. Vi beregner forekomst av yrkesrelaterte strømulykker, og beskriver de viktigste lover og forskrifter som regulerer rapportering av disse. Forekomst og forebygging av strømulykker i arbeidslivet | Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening
Background: A systematic attempt to summarize the literature that examines working conditions and... more Background: A systematic attempt to summarize the literature that examines working conditions and occupational health among immigrant in Europe and Canada. Methods: We established inclusion criteria, searched systematically for articles included in the Medline, Embase and Social Sciences Citation Index databases in the period 2000-2016 and checked the reference lists of all included papers. Results: Eighty-two studies were included in this review; 90% were cross-sectional and 80% were based on self-report. Work injuries were consistently found to be more prevalent among immigrants in studies from different countries and in studies with different designs. The prevalence of perceived discrimination or bullying was found to be consistently higher among immigrant workers than among natives. In general, however, we found that the evidence that immigrant workers are more likely to be exposed to physical or chemical hazards and poor psychosocial working conditions is very limited. A few Scandinavian studies support the idea that occupational factors may partly contribute to the higher risk of sick leave or disability pension observed among immigrants. However, the evidence for working conditions as a potential mediator of the associations between immigrant status and poor general health and mental distress was very limited. Conclusion: Some indicators suggest that immigrant workers in Europe and Canada experience poorer working conditions and occupational health than do native workers. However, the ability to draw conclusions is limited by the large gaps in the available data, heterogeneity of immigrant working populations, and the lack of prospectively designed cohort studies.
ABSTRACT Thirty female chocolate packers were included in a prospective study to relate trapezius... more ABSTRACT Thirty female chocolate packers were included in a prospective study to relate trapezius muscle activity during work to the development of myalgia. Electromyographic (EMG) recordings and interviews on risk factors were performed at start of employment and every 10th week. The muscle activity was characterized by the averaged static and median level. Only data obtained before a possible development of severe symptoms of trapezius myalgia (patient) was used in the analysis. Seventeen of the subjects became patients within the first year of employment. Machine-stops occurred accidentally during work. At one task the stops induced a pause where the subjects passively waited for the machine to start. Twenty-one subjects experienced machine-stops of a sufficient duration to be evaluated for a potential “resting tension”. Future patients showed significantly higher “resting tension” compared to healthy controls.
Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, Jun 1, 2019
Bipolar surface EMG (sEMG) signals of the trapezius muscles bilaterally were recorded continuousl... more Bipolar surface EMG (sEMG) signals of the trapezius muscles bilaterally were recorded continuously with a frequency of 800 Hz during full-shift fieldwork by a four-channel portable data logger. After recordings of 60 forest machine operators in Finland, Norway and Sweden, we discovered erroneous data. In short of any available procedure to handle these data, a method was developed to automatically discard erroneous data in the raw data reading files (Discarding Erroneous EPOchs (DESEPO) method. The DESEPO method automatically identifies, discards and adjusts the use of signal disturbances in order to achieve the best possible data use. An epoch is a 0.1 s period of raw sEMG signals and makes the basis for the RMS calculations. If erroneous signals constitute more than 30% of the epoch signals, this classifies for discharge of the present epoch. Non-valid epochs have been discarded, as well as all the subsequent epochs. The valid data for further analyses using the automatic detection resulted in an increase of acceptable data from an average of 2.15-6.5 h per day. The combination of long-term full-shift recordings and automatic data reduction procedures made it possible to use large amount of data otherwise discarded for further analyses. part of the sEMG frequency spectrum and lead to an erroneous interpretation of the signal (Conforto et al., 1999; Frigo et al., 2000). Research and extensive efforts have been made in this area, developing better algorithms, upgrading existing methodologies, improving detection techniques to reduce noise and to acquire sEMG signals
Upper arm elevation, upper trapezius muscle activity, and neck and shoulder pain – a longitudinal... more Upper arm elevation, upper trapezius muscle activity, and neck and shoulder pain – a longitudinal study of construction and healthcare workers
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