Objective
Objectives:
To develop intramuscular measurement techniques suitable for mapping motor unit recruitment under operation of computer input devices. To develop evaluation of signal processing algorithms for identification of single motor unit potentials under dynamic conditions.
To evaluate motor unit recruitment in dynamic tasks, in normal subjects and in-patients with pain syndromes.
To evaluate experimentally muscular strain at the motor unit level, in operation of different types of computer input devices.
To evaluate stress induced muscular tension at the motor unit level, in computer operation. To formulate recommendations for design of work with computer input devices.
Brief description: The project aims at providing the knowledge urgently needed for an efficient intervention against hazardous work situations created by new IT technologies. The importance of health problems related to computer or VDT (visual display terminal) use has been recognised in the increasing number of national guidelines and legislation, international standard or directives from the Commission. The lack of valid research data has however made it almost impossible to provide practical solutions based on the concept of health based risk assessment. Problems are aches and pain in the neck shoulder region and disorders in the hand/wrist region. The high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among VDT users have been associated with task related factors such as constrained posture, poor ergonomic design of the work place, and equipment design. However, also stress related factors i.e. excessive workload and high work pace, working against deadlines, lack of variety in work, poor work content, little control over work, poor work climate and lack of social support are important determinants for the adverse musculoskeletal health effects. The prevailing hypothesis for development of muscular pains during low intensity computer work, points to degenerative processes in a restricted number of small motor units constantly active and thus metabolically overloaded. The network expertise is concentrated on advanced intramuscular recordings from exposed muscles during computer work. Network experts will improve the measuring tools capable of detecting muscular overload. This will make possible to evaluate the effect of stress intervention and organizational changes, and the design of input devices and computer work stations. The project requires advanced intramuscular measurement techniques, advanced methods for signal processing aiming at decomposition of interference pattern electromyographic (EMG) signals, expert knowledge of experimental designs to evaluate the influence of movements and psychological stress, and expert knowledge of ergonomics in design of computer input devices.
Keywords:
VDU work, computer mouse, IT, ergonomics, muscular disorders, muscular pain, stress, neurophysiology, motor unit recruitment pattern
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering signal processing
- social sciences psychology ergonomics
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
112 79 STOCKHOLM
Sweden
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.