Mechanical energy absorption in human hand-arm exposed to sinusoidal vibration.
A possible basis for risk assessment of human exposure to vibration when using hand-held tools may be to determine the amount of mechanical energy that is absorbed by the hand-arm system. The aim of this investigation was to study the absorption of mechanical energy in the human hand-arm system during exposure to sinusoidal vibration within the frequency range of 20 to 1500 Hz. A handle, specially designed for this type of experiments, was used during the measurements. The influence of various experimental conditions, such as three different hand-arm postures, grip force (25-75 N) and vibration levels (27-53 mm/srms), were studied on eight subjects. The outcome clearly shows that the energy absorption properties of the human hand-arm system are more or less dependent on all of the experimental conditions studied, but mainly to the frequency of the vibration stimuli. Furthermore, the results indicate a non-linear relationship between the energy absorbed and all other variables studies.
Burström
L
L
National Institute of Occupational Health, Technical Unit, Umeå, Sweden.
Lundström
R
R
D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004735:Energy Transfer; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011187:Posture; D014732:Vibration