title: Validity of a small low-cost triaxial accelerometer with integrated logger for uncomplicated measurements of postures and movements of head, upper back and upper arms.
abstract: Repetitive work and work in constrained postures are risk factors for developing musculoskeletal disorders. Low-cost, user-friendly technical methods to quantify these risks are needed. The aims were to validate inclination angles and velocities of one model of the new generation of accelerometers with integrated data loggers against a previously validated one, and to compare meaurements when using a plain reference posture with that of a standardized one. All mean (n = 12 subjects) angular RMS-differences in 4 work tasks and 4 body parts were <2.5° and all mean median angular velocity differences <5.0 °/s. The mean correlation between the inclination signal-pairs was 0.996. This model of the new generation of triaxial accelerometers proved to be comparable to the validated accelerometer using a data logger. This makes it well-suited, for both researchers and practitioners, to measure postures and movements during work. Further work is needed for validation of the plain reference posture for upper arms.
authors.affiliation: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University and Regional Laboratories Region Scania, Lund, Sweden; Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: camilla.dahlqvist@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dahlqvist
authors.affiliation: Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University and Regional Laboratories Region Scania, Lund, Sweden; Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gert-Åke
authors.initials: GÅ
authors.lastname: Hansson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Forsman
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology; D001415:Back / Q000502:physiology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003625:Data Collection / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014937:Work / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Quantitative exposure-response relationships; Technical measurements; Work-related musculoskeletal disorders