Assessment of the load of the musculoskeletal system as a function of the parameters describing the quality of steering a new-generation manual steering element

Project manager: Danuta Roman-Liu Ph.D. (Eng.)

Project summary:

"The aim of this research task was to investigate the quality of steering and the fatigue of the musculoskeletal system of the upper limb and the shoulder depending of the posture of the limb. Tests were conducted for 3 postures of the upper limb. For each of the postures, the goodness of steering was checked for a ""stationary"" and a ""moving"" variant. The fatigue of selected muscles of the upper limb and of the shoulder girdle were measured. There were 10 subjects. Eye - movement coordination was measured, as was the EMG signal of selected muscles of the upper limb and of the shoulder girdle: trapezius pars descendents, deltoideus pars clavicularis, deltoideus pars scapularis, and flexor carpi ulnaris.The values of the regulation error obtained as a result of an analysis differentiating the groups of the posture of the upper limb and the groups of the types of tracking, indicate that there is a very strong influence of the type of tracking, with the ""moving"" variants causing a significantly greater error than the ""stationary"" variants. The differences are much smaller for the different postures of the upper limb."

Unit: Department of Ergonomics

Duration: 01.01.2002 – 30.11.2004