Journal article
Upper trapezius muscle activity in healthy office workers: reliability and sensitivity of occupational exposure measures to differences in sex and hand dominance
Ergonomics, Vol.59(9), pp.1205-1214
09/01/2016
DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2015.1130860
PMCID: PMC9333326
PMID: 26924036
Abstract
Patterns of cervical muscle activity may contribute to overuse injuries in office workers. The purpose of this investigation was to characterise patterns of upper trapezius muscle activity in pain-free office workers using traditional occupational exposure measures and a modified Active Amplitude Probability Distribution Function (APDF), which considers only periods of active muscle contraction. Bilateral trapezius muscle activity was recorded in 77 pain-free office workers for 1-2 full days in their natural work environment. Mean amplitude, gap frequency, muscular rest and Traditional and Active APDF amplitudes were calculated. All measures demonstrated fair to substantial reliability. Dominant muscles demonstrated higher amplitudes of activity and less muscular rest compared to non-dominant, and women demonstrated less muscular rest with no significant difference in amplitude assessed by Active APDF compared to men. These findings provide normative data to identify atypical motor patterns that may contribute to persistence or recurrence of neck pain in office workers.
Practitioner Summary: Upper trapezius muscle activity was characterised in a large cohort of pain-free workers using electromyographic recordings from office environments. Dominant muscles demonstrated higher activity and less rest than non-dominant, and women demonstrated less rest than men. Results may be used to identify atypical trapezius muscle activity in office workers.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Upper trapezius muscle activity in healthy office workers: reliability and sensitivity of occupational exposure measures to differences in sex and hand dominance
- Creators
- Ryan J Marker - Rehabilitation Science Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusJaclyn E Balter - Physical Therapy Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusMicaela L Nofsinger - Physical Therapy Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical CampusDan Anton - Department of Physical Therapy, Eastern Washington UniversityNathan B Fethke - Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of IowaKatrina S Maluf - School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, Physical Therapy Program, San Diego State University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Ergonomics, Vol.59(9), pp.1205-1214
- DOI
- 10.1080/00140139.2015.1130860
- PMID
- 26924036
- PMCID
- PMC9333326
- NLM abbreviation
- Ergonomics
- ISSN
- 0014-0139
- eISSN
- 1366-5847
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Grant note
- R01 AR056704 / National Institutes of Health (10.13039/100000002) Promotion of Doctoral Studies II Scholarship / Foundation for Physical Therapy DGE-0742434 / National Science Foundation (10.13039/100000001)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2016
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Occupational and Environmental Health; Industrial and Systems Engineering; Injury Prevention Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9983997326702771
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