Three‐month work‐related musculoskeletal disorders assessment during manual lymphatic drainage in physiotherapists using Generic Postures notion

• Published in: Journal of occupational health Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. e12420 - n/a
• Main Authors: Gorce, Philippe, Jacquier‐Bret, Julien
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.01.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Cluster analysis; Disorders; ergonomic assessment; Ergonomics; Generic Posture; Humans; Kruskal-Wallis test; Lymphatic drainage; Manual Lymphatic Drainage; Massage; Musculoskeletal Diseases; musculoskeletal disorders; Occupational Diseases - etiology; Occupational health; Original; Physical Therapists; physiotherapist; Posture; Therapeutic applications; Upper Extremity; ergonomic assessment; musculoskeletal disorders; physiotherapist; Generic Posture; manual lymphatic drainage
• ISSN: 1348-9585; 1341-9145; 1348-9585
• DOI: 10.1002/1348-9585.12420

Objectives The aim of this work was to quantify the postures and to assess the musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) risk in physiotherapists repeating a manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) over a three‐month period. The underlying hypothesis was that there would be Generic Postures (GP) that would be repeated and could be used to more simply describe repetitive and long‐duration complex activities. Methods The posture of five physiotherapists performing five 20‐min MLD at their workplace was captured by two cameras. From the recordings, the adopted postures were extracted every 5 s and quantified through 13 joint angles, that is, 6594 analyzed postures. Rapid Upper Limb (RULA) and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) were used to assess MSDs risks. A hierarchical analysis was used to define GP. Results Seven GP were identified through mean values and standard deviation. GP ergonomic assessment showed a low to moderate MSD risk (RULA between 3 and 6 and REBA between 2 and 7). High neck (>20°) and trunk (>15°) flexion were observed for all GP. High shoulder abduction and flexion (>40°) were evidenced for GP3 to GP5. GP1 was the most used (34%) and presented the lowest ergonomic scores (RULA: 4.46 ± 0.84; REBA: 5.06 ± 1.75). GP3 to GP6 had frequency of between 10 and 20%. GP5, GP6, and GP7 obtained the highest ergonomic scores (RULA>5; REBA>7). All physiotherapists use different GP combinations to perform MLD. Conclusion MLD could be described as a combination of GP. Ergonomic analysis showed that MLD exposes physiotherapists to low at moderate MSD risks.