A Pilot Study of an Articulating Support Arm System for Reducing Sustained Posture and Muscular Effort While Performing Echocardiograms

Sommerich, Carolyn M.; Li, Jing; Nagavarupu, Shasank; Palmer, Douglas; Ngo, Sriya; Umar, Radin Zaid Radin; Keester, Dana L.; Dickerson, Jennifer A.

doi:10.1177/1541931213601342

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Still, implementation of the left-handed scanning technique requires more time and effort to retrain, especially in aged sonographers with large experience in right-handed scanning. Furthermore, an articulating support arm system was developed (15) . It is an articulating arm, designed to support the arm of the sonographer in a position to hold the transducer against the patient’s chest.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of a probe stabilizer to reduce musculoskeletal overload of ultrasound operators in routine diagnostic echocardiographic imaging

et al. 2019

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Introduction: Echocardiography is essential in the evaluation of patients with cardiovascular disease. Repetitive movements, however, expose ultrasound operators to a high risk of musculoskeletal strain injuries. Aim: We investigated to what extent a probe stabilizer could reduce repetitive movements. Materials and methods: The study population consisted of 31 male patients referred for routine transthoracic echocardiography. A good apical acoustic window was prerequisite for inclusion. Standard apical views and measurements were first recorded without using the probe stabilizer. Afterwards, the same apical views and measurements were acquired with utilization of the probe stabilizer. During the entire procedure, shoulder abduction and muscle activity of right forearm flexor and extensor muscles were recorded. To this purpose, an EMG-sensor was attached to the right lower arm and a gyroscope to the right shoulder blade. Results: Extreme right arm abduction (>30˚) occurred in 58% of the time with use of the stabilizer and in 98% of the time without (p <0.01). Activity of right forearm extensor muscles was 42% with and 60% without stabilizer (p = 0.04). For the flexor muscles these percentages were 47% and 87%, respectively (p <0.01). Use of the stabilizer did not affect the time needed for image acquisition (308s versus 309s, respectively, p = 0.46). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the use of a stabilizer during acquisition of apical views in routine transthoracic echocardiography reduces the total time of shoulder abduction and the use of the right forearm muscles, while acquisition time was not affected.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of a probe stabilizer to reduce musculoskeletal overload of ultrasound operators in routine diagnostic echocardiographic imaging

et al. 2019

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“…as well as individual factors (such as current wrist health condition) is expected to provide a higher sensitivity of measure. The proposed system is partly inspired by the well-established use of EMG ergonomics assessment method such as from Sommerich et al [43,44] and Lavender et al [45] , which evaluates the individual capacity through normalization of real time muscle activity data over the maximum voluntary exertion. Normalizing data to maximum capacity may provide a higher sensitivity to capture development of WMSDs risks due to individual factors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Architecture Development of Wrist Range-of-Motion (ROM) System to Assess and Monitor Wrist Postural Behaviours at Workplace: An Exploratory Study

Zaid¹,

Nadiah²,

Isa³

et al. 2019

JESTR

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Poor wrist postures due to work requirements is one of the established risk factors contributing to the development of workrelated musculoskeletal disorders. This study systematically investigates the underlying hypothesis that identification and monitoring of poor wrist postures at work should be in the function of normalized wrist range-of-motion (ROM) instead of the traditional measurement of absolute wrist angle. This three-stage study looks into 1) existing issues related to current workplace wrist postural assessment methods, 2) development of a new architecture to assess and monitor wrist posture at work, and 3) qualitative review with ergonomics practitioners on the architecture. The first stage utilizes literature review and interview with ergonomics practitioners. Generative collaboration method was used to generate the architecture for the second stage. The third stage employs semi-structured interview with ergonomics practitioners. Several issues were identified in current wrist postural assessment methods. A conceptual architecture of the Wrist ROM System to assess and monitor wrist postural behaviors at workplace is proposed in this manuscript. The architecture was generally well received by the practitioners. The architecture provides the groundwork in the development of a technological system designed as a tool to analyze workplace wrist postural behaviors.

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A Pilot Study of an Articulating Support Arm System for Reducing Sustained Posture and Muscular Effort While Performing Echocardiograms

Cited by 2 publications

References 9 publications

The use of a probe stabilizer to reduce musculoskeletal overload of ultrasound operators in routine diagnostic echocardiographic imaging

The use of a probe stabilizer to reduce musculoskeletal overload of ultrasound operators in routine diagnostic echocardiographic imaging

Architecture Development of Wrist Range-of-Motion (ROM) System to Assess and Monitor Wrist Postural Behaviours at Workplace: An Exploratory Study

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