Occupational biomechanics with applications to pregnancy

我的研究的长期目标是为预防因职业任务而引起的肌肉骨骼疾病和下腰痛做出贡献。我特别感兴趣的一个方面是，怀孕或年龄导致的身体变化如何影响人们的工作方式。例如，怀孕晚期的女性，其躯干重心大幅前移，如何在控制脊柱负荷的同时举起并确保身体平衡和躯干稳定？对于年长的工人以及在搬运/搬运不可预测的负载(如儿童)时，平衡的考虑也很重要。拟议的研究计划包括开发工具来评估躯干稳定性和全身平衡及其在举重中的作用，并将这些工具和方法应用于三种情况。我们将评估怀孕和年龄变化对躯干稳定性和身体平衡的影响，并研究工人应对怀孕和年龄变化所使用的提升策略。我们还将确定人们用来应对不可预测的负荷的策略，如儿童。以前的研究表明，跌倒在怀孕后期和老年人中经常发生。大约每两名孕妇中就有一名患有背痛，而且在日托工作人员中也相当普遍。拟议的研究方案的结果将构成这三类工人安全起重建议的知识基础。 使用最先进的运动捕捉和运动分析研究设施，我们将确定搬运/搬运任务中躯干稳定性和身体平衡、脊柱负荷和躯干肌肉活动的测量方法。这些措施将被用来比较1)怀孕和非怀孕妇女以及2)年轻和老年工人的举重策略。它们还将用于比较搬运或搬运可预测负载(如箱子)和模拟活动儿童的不可预测负载时的身体平衡、脊柱稳定性和脊柱负载。 这项关于怀孕的研究结果将有助于加拿大医生为孕妇、雇主和孕妇提供工作场所的建议。据我们所知，抬起和抬起孩子的技术从来没有被研究过。魁北克(CSST)和安大略省(OHCOW)都承认有必要改善托儿所的安全。拟议的研究和相关的实地研究的结果将转化为改善托儿所安全的建议，并将对托儿所工作人员、他们的雇主和父母有用。同样，关于年龄影响的工作是创新和重要的，因为几乎没有做过评估老年工人具体风险的工作，老年工人在劳动力中所占的比例越来越大。 这一研究项目将为职业生物力学的四名硕士和四名博士生的研究性培训做出贡献。

The long term objectives of my research are to contribute to knowledge towards the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders and low back pain due to occupational tasks. One aspect of special interest to me is how physical changes such as those due to pregnancy or age affect the way people work. For example, how do women in late pregnancy, whose trunk centre of mass has substantially moved anteriorly, lift and ensure body balance and trunk stability while also controlling the loads on their spine? Consideration of balance is also important for older workers and when lifting/handling loads that are not predictable such as children. The proposed research program consists in developing tools to evaluate trunk stability and whole body balance and their role in lifting and to apply these tools and methods to three situations. We will evaluate the effects of the changes due to pregnancy and age on trunk stability and body balance, and study the lifting strategies used by workers to cope with pregnancy and age related changes. We will also identify strategies used by people to cope with non-predictable loads such as children. Previous research showed that falls are frequent in late pregnancy and with older people. Back pain affects about one out of two pregnant women and is also quite prevalent in daycare workers. The results of the proposed research program will constitute a knowledge basis for recommendations on safe lifting for these three categories of workers. Using state of the art research facilities in Motion Capture and Motion Analysis, we will determine measures of trunk stability and body balance, spinal loads and trunk muscle activity during lifting/handling tasks. These measures will be used to compare lifting strategies of 1) pregnant and non-pregnant women and 2) young and older workers. They will also be used to compare body balance, spinal stability and spinal loads during the lifting or handling of predictable loads, such as boxes, and unpredictable loads simulating an active child. The results of the research on pregnancy will be useful to Canadian physicians who make recommendations for work accommodations for pregnant women, to employers and to pregnant women. To our knowledge, techniques for lifting and carrying children have never been studied. The need to improve safety in daycares has been acknowledged both in Quebec (CSST) and Ontario (OHCOW). The results of the proposed research and the associated field research will be translated into recommendations for improving safety in daycares, and will be useful for daycare workers, their employers, and parents. Similarly, the work on the effect of age is innovative and important as little work has been done to evaluate the specific risks for older workers, an increasing part of the workforce. This research program will contribute to the research training of four Master’s and four PhD students in Occupational Biomechanics.