Reduction of farmers' postural load during occupationally oriented medical rehabilitation

Effectiveness of multidisciplinary primary prevention in decreasing the risk of work disability in a low-risk population

“…These studies were mostly uncontrolled, had small study populations, and focused on secondary non-vocational outcomes of VOMR. They reported inconsistent evidence of the effects of VOMR on subjective physical and mental strain at work, severity of neck-shoulder and low-back pain, physical performance, subjective work ability, improvement in ergonomics, and the use of healthcare services (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Although VOMR has been widely used since the early 1980s, we could not find any studies that primarily focused on evaluating the effectiveness of VOMR on attaining its main goal -decreasing the risk of long-term work disability -except for a recently published investigation by our study group (29).…”

“…Despite the fact that VOMR is the commonest type of rehabilitation targeting the Finnish working population, few studies on its effectiveness have been conducted thus far (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Most of these studies did not have a natural control group, were conducted on a small number of participants, or were focused on secondary outcomes of VOMR (22-25, 27, 28).…”

“…Some studies of VOMR have reported positive effects on subjective physical and mental strain at work (22), the severity of neck-shoulder and low-back pain (22,23), and physical performance (22,26,27), as well as improved ergonomics (23)(24)(25)28), while others found no effects on these outcomes (23,27). The effects of VOMR on the use of healthcare, subjective work ability, and the duration of sick leaves related to back pain have been found to be minor or insignificant (22,23,(26)(27)(28).…”

A Comparison of Three Observational Techniques for Assessing Postural Loads in Industry

“…Since the time of publication of these techniques, research showed their usefulness for postural assessments of jobs in several occupational settings, including construction [22], agriculture [23,24], a hammering task [25], nursing [26,27], supermarket workers [11,28], poultry industry [29], ship maintenance [30], a soft drinks distribution center [31], a metalworking firm [32], truck drivers [33], a carpet mending operation [34], etc.…”

Analysis of Postural Load During Tasks Related to Milking Cows—A Case Study

“…OWAS (Ovako Working Posture Analyzing System) [8,9] was used in many studies on MSDs risk assessment in numerous occupations, such as constructors [10], females employed on dairy farms [11], persons employed in fruit production [12], planting in forestry [13] or employees on a poultry farm [14]. It was also introduced by Nevala-Puranen, Kallionpää and Ojanen [15] and Navala-Puranen, Taattola and Venäläinen [16], who analysed milkers' musculoskeletal load; their results indicated simultaneous awkward body posture (bent and twisted) during up to 29% of their working time in a stanchion barn.…”