No abstract

Background and Objective: The maximum aerobic capacity (VO2max) is one of the criteria that can be used to create a balance between work and worker. The assessment of individuals' physical work capacity can be used to assign individuals in jobs proportional to their capacities in order to maintain their health and physical capacity and improve their productivity and efficiency. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 120 women with the age range of 21-49 years working in hospitals located in Isfahan, Iran. The participants were evaluated through the Single Stage Treadmill Walking Test by Ebbeling. The data were collected using the General Health Questionnaire-28, Occupational Fatigue Scale, and Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software (version 22) using the Pearson correlation and t-test. Results: According to the results, the mean VO2max, physical working capacity, and general health were obtained as 38.89±1.85 ml/kg-1 .min-1 , 4.10±0.47 kcal/min, and 25.43±12.09 kcal/min, respectively. In addition, the mean scores of occupational fatigue and satisfaction were 85.87±32.35 and 57.48±13.01, respectively. The results also indicated a significant relationship between VO2max and age, weight, body mass index, occupational fatigue, and job satisfaction (P<0.05). Conclusion: As the findings indicated, occupational fatigue and satisfaction were associated with VO2max among workers. Consequently, it is recommended to not only consider the compatibility of physical factors in the workplace, but also give special attention to mental aspects, since they affect the workers' physical domain and productivity.

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal pain is generally caused by poor physical conditions and repetitive movement. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of kinesio tape and exercise on maximum key pinch endurance and pain reduction regarding the assembly workers. Method: This clinical trial study was conducted on 40 female workers employed in the assembly part of an electrical company. The subjects were categorized into three groups: exercise-taping, exercise and control, and performing an 8-week rehabilitation plan twice a week. To assess the upper limb disability and key pinch endurance before and after the intervention, authors used DASH questionnaire and pinch gauge, respectively. Data were evaluated with SPSS 20 and one-way ANOVA, Chi-Square and paired t-test tests. In this study, pinch gauge was used to measure pinch strength. Studies show that pinch gauge has high calibration accuracy and precision.  Results: The results of this study demonstrated a decrease in upper limb disability in the two groups of exercise and taping-exercise compared to the control group. Chi-square test indicated a statistically significant difference between the history of hand pain in the three groups. Moreover, paired t-test showed that the two hand's key pinch endurance was significantly increased in the two intervention groups compared to the control group. Conclusion: Using a kinesio tape can be effective in reducing pain and physical damage in hands. Therefore, at least 2 or 3 exercise sessions can be done per week during working hours.

Introduction: Upper limbs are more susceptible to musculoskeletal disorders. The OCRA method is suggested to measure the biomechanical risk of the associated with the manual, repetitive work in upper limbs. Questionnaires can be used to measure the symptoms of diseases and disabilities. The DASH questionnaire is one of these questionnaires that are used to evaluate disability of upper limbs. In this study attempted to evaluate the biomechanical risk factor and relationship with disability of the upper limbs in assembly workers. Method: The study was a descriptive – analytic and cross-sectional one being and was carried out among 120 female assembly workers. For the measurement of biomechanical risk factor and disability of the upper limbs, the OCRA method and Iranian version of DASH have been used, respectively. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS 20. It is noteworthy to mention that P value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: In this study, assembly workers were in terms of risk factors of biomechanics and upper limb disability in low risk and low disability, respectively. In addition, the relationship between biomechanical risk factor and disability of upper limbs was significant and direct (P value <0.05). Conclusion: Since the relationship between biomechanical risk factor and disability of upper limbs, was significant and direct, it can be concluded that musculoskeletal disorders due to inappropriate working conditions can lead to motor limitation and upper limb disability at different levels.