The Effects of Forearm Support on Upper Body for People in Front of Monitor: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

With the ever-growing number of people who work at visual display terminals, the work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper body are believed to be an important problem all over the world. The forearm support, which can keep the forearm and wrist in biomechanical posture, is a possible protective factor of the development of upper body syndrome. This meta-analysis examines the efficacy of forearm support in reducing upper body syndrome. The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Ovid, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Google Scholar, CNKI database, and Wanfang database were searched from inception until May 29, 2013. Relevant studies were included after the screening of title, abstract, and the full text. Impact of bias was assessed independently by 2 authors. Four studies that met all the inclusion criteria were included finally. The combined results based on all studies suggested that statistically the forearm support had a nonsignificant effect on upper body syndrome (odds ratio [OR] = 0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49, 1.02). The result of subgroup analysis suggested that forearm support has a significant effect on neck or shoulder syndrome (OR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.43, 1.14) and the effect on upper extremity syndrome (OR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.49, 1.19) is not significant. This meta-analysis suggested that the forearm support had statistically nonsignificant effect on preventing upper body syndrome on the whole.

The effects of forearm support and shoulder posture on upper trapezius and anterior deltoid activity

“…Several studies evaluated muscle activity in forearm and wrist support during typing and mouse tasks. However, among the identified studies there is still divergence about the effect of the forearm support15, 16, 20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27 ) and about the recommendation for safe limits for the shoulder posture28,29,30 ) .…”

“…A recent meta-analysis about the effect of forearm support in reducing upper body disorders showed that forearm support had statistically significant effect on preventing upper limb disorders27 ) . However, this conclusion was based on only four studies, and none of them controlled for the shoulder posture in a supported condition.…”