1. [The role of coactivation of the trunk musculature in evaluating biomechanical risk].
- Author
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Ranavolo A, Mari S, Conte C, Serrao M, Silvetti A, Iavicoli S, and Draicchio F
- Subjects
- Adult, Back Muscles physiology, Biomechanical Phenomena, Electromyography, Humans, Lumbosacral Region, Male, Muscle Contraction, Occupational Diseases etiology, Occupational Diseases physiopathology, Stress, Mechanical, Lifting adverse effects, Muscle, Skeletal physiology, Occupational Diseases epidemiology, Risk Assessment, Torso physiology
- Abstract
One of the mechanisms adopted by the central nervous system to stabilize the joints or the spine is muscle co-activation. Nevertheless during lifting tasks muscle co-activation increases spinal load. For co-activation assessment during 3 lifting tasks at increasing load levels we utilized a time-varying co-activation algorithm proposed by Rudolph in 2000. We found that Rudolph co-activation index grew with lifting index. The time-varying co-activation index gave a continuous measure of low back compression. A time-varying co-activation index could be of great interest in all conditions in which NIOSH equation is not applicable.
- Published
- 2014