Motor variability in occupational health and performance

Abstract Several recent reviews have reported that ‘repetitive movements’ constitute a risk factor for occupational musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, shoulder and arm regions. More variation in biomechanical exposure is often suggested as an effective intervention in such settings. Since increa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical biomechanics (Bristol) 2012-12, Vol.27 (10), p.979-993
Main Authors: Srinivasan, Divya, Mathiassen, Svend Erik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomechanical Phenomena
Biomechanics
Cumulative Trauma Disorders - etiology
Cumulative Trauma Disorders - physiopathology
Exposure variability
Feedback, Sensory - physiology
Humans
Kinematics
Motor Activity - physiology
Movement - physiology
Muscle Fatigue - physiology
Musculoskeletal Diseases - etiology
Musculoskeletal Diseases - physiopathology
Occupational Diseases - etiology
Occupational Diseases - physiopathology
Occupational Health
Pain - etiology
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Posture - physiology
Repetitive work
Sports - physiology
Task Performance and Analysis
Variation
Work-related musculo-skeletal disorders
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Summary:Abstract Several recent reviews have reported that ‘repetitive movements’ constitute a risk factor for occupational musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, shoulder and arm regions. More variation in biomechanical exposure is often suggested as an effective intervention in such settings. Since increasing variation using extrinsic methods like job rotation may not always be possible in an industrial context, the intrinsic variability of the motor system may offer an alternative opportunity to increase variation. Motor variability refers to the natural variation in postures, movements and muscle activity observed to different extents in all tasks. The current review discusses research appearing in motor control, sports sciences and occupational biomechanics literature to answer whether motor variability is important to consider in an occupational context, and if yes, whether it can be manipulated by training the worker or changing the working conditions so as to increase biomechanical variation without jeopardizing production. The review concludes that motor variability is, indeed, a relevant issue in occupational health and performance and suggests a number of key issues for further research.
ISSN:0268-0033
1879-1271
1879-1271
DOI:10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2012.08.007