Search

To determine if a brief, participatory ergonomics education program was associated with changes in work posture and general health of heavy video display terminal (VDT) users, 23 full-time VDT users participated in an on-site, small-group, 60-minute ergonomics education session and 1 week later an individual 15-minute follow-up session at their workstation. Posture was assessed by a blinded tester who scored videotape records to complete the Postural and Repetitiveness Risk Factors Index (PRRI), and general health status was assessed via self-administered Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire before the intervention and again 5 weeks later. Five weeks after the 60-minute session, PRRI scores were 19% lower than were preintervention scores (p0.01), indicating lower postural risk. SF-36 physical (2% higher) and mental (4% higher) component scores were not statistically different, however, before and after intervention (p0.05). Although the participatory ergonomics education program was associated with improved work posture (PRRI scores) after 5 weeks, general physical and mental health (SF-36 scores) did not change within this time period. These results suggest that a participatory ergonomics program, which is of short duration and minimally disruptive to the normal workplace routine, may have a rapid effect on improving work posture. Although awkward posture is thought to be a risk factor for work-related musculoskeletal disorders, multigroup and long-term randomized trials are required to establish the effectiveness of participatory ergonomics programs in reducing the incidence and severity of musculoskeletal disorders associated with heavy VDT use.

Radiographs of live, unanesthetized snakes were used to document the position of the heart in the body cavity during horizontal, head-up, and head-down postures. The extent of cardiac displacement observed during these postural changes differed substantially among the snakes examined, ranging from virtually none in a thin-bodied arboreal snake to as much as three vertebral lengths (= half the length of the heart) in a heavy-bodied terrestrial Crotalus. The basis of this differential cardiac displacement is attributed to the anatomical "packaging" of the pericardial sac. In some snakes the pericardial sac is loosely suspended in the body cavity by the great vessels and connective tissue sheets. In contrast, in other snakes the pericardical sac is buttressed against the body wall, the lung, or the liver. We hypothesize that cardiac displacement during postural change may alter the pattern of blood flow in the aortae of snakes.