A case study of motion data-driven biomechanical assessment for identifying and evaluating ergonomic interventions in reinforced-concrete work

Abstract

Physical ergonomic intervention (e.g., use of tools) is adopted to improve working postures in the reinforced-concrete trade. However, evaluating its effectiveness often focuses on a specific body part mostly concerned although posture modification in one part may physically affect another. This paper presents a case study to comprehensively examine the effectiveness of existing ergonomic interventions. In the experiment, a subject repeated typical motions 15 times, which served as the baseline of biomechanical simulation with the 50th percentile of the anthropometric size of the U.S. population. 3D-motion-capture and biomechanical simulation were then adopted to collect full-body posture data and compute the load exerted on body parts with population strength capability. The results indicated that the disc compressions and joint moments were reduced by 45.41% and 31.86% whereas the effectiveness varied among the body parts (e.g., elbow, shoulder, knee). These results suggest that ergonomic interventions can lessen physical demands by carefully selecting an appropriate intervention for specific tasks and body parts in practice.

Keywords

• Construction ergonomics
• Ergonomic intervention
• Reinforced-concrete activities
• Biomechanical simulation
• Work-related musculoskeletal disorders