Risk exposure assessment of dairy parlor workers

Prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome among dairy workers

“…Previous studies have demonstrated that milking tasks involving mechanical milking equipment are characterized by extreme wrist postures, repetition, and high velocities in the distal upper extremity [Stål et al, 1999;Patil et al, 2010], and high hand and forearm muscle loads [Pinzke et al, 2001]. The high muscle loads combined with repetition and extreme wrist and finger positions likely contribute to the development of CTS among dairy workers involved in milking tasks.In a previous study [Patil et al, 2010], investigators performed an assessment of physical risk factors for upper limb disorders on parlor and non-parlor dairy work tasks using the Strain Index [Moore and Garg, 1995] and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Hand Activity Level (HAL) [ACGIH, 2003]. The non-parlor dairy tasks involved a variety of non-cyclic tasks which did not often require extensive upper extremity use.…”

“…The majority of occupational CTS prevalence studies associate a combination of physical risk factors (repetition and force) with the disorder [Bernard, 1997;N.R.C., 2001]. Previous studies have demonstrated that milking tasks involving mechanical milking equipment are characterized by extreme wrist postures, repetition, and high velocities in the distal upper extremity [Stål et al, 1999;Patil et al, 2010], and high hand and forearm muscle loads [Pinzke et al, 2001]. The high muscle loads combined with repetition and extreme wrist and finger positions likely contribute to the development of CTS among dairy workers involved in milking tasks.…”

“…Additionally, an extremely [Rosecrance et al, 2001]. The milking task performed by workers in modern mechanized dairy parlors also involves a significant amount of repetitive motion, forceful exertions, and awkward hand and wrist motions [Pinzke et al, 2001;Patil et al, 2010]. Exposure to repetitive and forceful hand and wrist motions has been suggested to increase the risk of CTS among workers from a variety of occupations [Siverstein et al, 1987;Franzblau and Werner, 1999;Stål et al, 1999;Aptel et al, 2002;Van Rijn et al, 2009].…”

“…In large-herd dairy parlors like those observed in the present study, milking tasks performed by workers can be divided into four hand and wrist intensive subtasks namely; (1) dipping, (2) cleaning, (3) stripping, and (4) attaching the milking cluster to the cow's udder. These dairy parlor subtasks have been characterized as rapid, repetitive, forceful and include awkward postures of the hands, wrists, and shoulders [Patil et al, 2010]. All subtasks are performed by each milker.…”

“…Exceeding the TLV has been positively associated with diagnosed CTS in a previous study . The ACGIH HAL scores were determined for both parlor and non-parlor workers in large-herd dairies [Patil et al, 2010]. The ACGIH HAL scores for the parlor workers exceeded the TLV for the dominant hand in all cases whereas the HAL scores for non-parlor workers were below the TLV.…”