Title: Low back pain assessment using surface electromyography among industry workers during the repetitive bending tasks

Authors: Shankar Subramanian; Naveenkumar Raju; Pradeep Srinivasan; Karthick Jeganathan; Srinivasan Jayaraman

Addresses: Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Erode, Tamil Nadu 638 080, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Erode, Tamil Nadu 638 080, India ' Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Erode, Tamil Nadu 638 080, India ' McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

Abstract: Hand screen printing (HSP) involves repetitive tasks, prolonged standing, and maintenance of awkward, uncomfortable posture that leads to musculoskeletal disorders. Low back pain (LBP) prevalence is higher among these workers. This study aims towards quantitative analysis of low back pain for the prolonged printing task among HSP workers, by monitoring the muscular activity and bending angle. The surface electromyography (sEMG) and goniometer signals were used to monitor the erector spinae muscles group and thoracic bending angle respectively for 20 minutes of printing task. The study population was divided into two groups, such as LBP and control groups based on workers physical fitness. The study results infer that muscle MPF difference of LBP is significantly different than the control group. Further, result findings suggest that, the erector spinae thoracic muscle group inflicting the muscle fatigue among the LBP group HSP workers. The current finding indicates that, LBP group are easily prone to muscle fatigue and likely to high possibility of worsening back pain due to prolonged monotonous and repeated bending task in printing environment.

Keywords: workplace ergonomics; surface electromyography; sEMG; low back; muscle fatigue; textile industry; repetitive task; mean power frequency; MPF.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2018.096112

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2018 Vol.5 No.4, pp.277 - 292

Received: 14 Jan 2018
Accepted: 19 May 2018
Published online: 12 Nov 2018 *

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