Author(s): Colim, Ana ; Arezes, Pedro ; Flores, Paulo ; Monteiro, Pedro ; Mesquita, Inês ; Braga, Ana Cristina
Date: 2021
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/13935
Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
Subject(s): Obesity; VHT; Muscular activity; Electromyography
Obesity is an emerging health problem and its incidence has been increasing throughout the workforce. In industrial workstations, vertical handling tasks (VHT), including lifting and lowering, are very common and can cause a significant muscular overload for the involved workers. During these tasks, muscular activity may be considerably affected by workers' body conditions. This study aims to analyze and compare the muscular activity in subjects with different obesity levels, using surface electromyography (EMG), during predefined VHT. Six different VHT (combining 5, 10 and 15 kg loads with two task styles) were performed. EMG data normalization was based on the percentage of Maximum Contraction during each Task (MCT%). The results show that obesity influences MCT%, which in turn increases the muscular effort during VHT. The current investigation demonstrates that obesity is a relevant musculoskeletal risk factor regarding VHT. The engineering analysis and design implications of this work can thus be perceived.
