Abstract
Objectives
The most frequent manner of attending childbirth imposes on midwives assuming poor body position affecting the musculoskeletal system. Long professional experience does not mitigate the negative effects. The adopted movement habit, as well as the type, number and frequency of actions influence the body posture. The aim of the study was to identify ergonomic threats of basic occupational midwives activities and how particular spinal segments arrangements while attending childbirth using the same technique in senior midwives differ from those of junior ones. It was also checked whether pain influences the working position assumed by midwives.
Materials and Methods
Examinations were conducted in 95 midwives aged 21–50 (X = 29.25±9.34): 51 graduates of BSc midwifery who worked 680 h in delivery rooms during obligatory practical classes and apprenticeship and 44 senior midwives with professional experience of 7–27 years (X = 14.84±5.98). The study was threefold. The spinal alignment while performing work activities associated with attending childbirth was assessed using the OWAS system and the SonoSens Monitor, the center of gravity projection on basal plane — using the AccuGait AMTI stabilometric platform. The measurements were taken during a simulation of attending childbirth (on examination model). A survey was conducted aimed at identifying spinal pain.
Results
Midwives’ working postures require unnatural body alignments. Postural instability in the working position and no maximal usage of basal plane were observed. The work overload may afflict the musculoskeletal system, which was confirmed by different pain discomforts in 67.3% of the examinees.
Conclusions
Spinal alignment while attending childbirth is individually differentiated and in every case non-ergonomic. Identifying explicitly spinal overloads is difficult, but the most prevalent ones affect lumbar and cervical regions altogether. Spinal pain is frequently noted, both in junior and senior midwives, and is characteristic for midwives working in maximal movement ranges.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Veelen MA van, Nederhof EAL, Goossens RHM, Schot CJ, Jakimowicz JJ. Ergonomic problems encountered by the medical team related to products used for minimally invasive surgery. Surg Endosc 2003;17:1077–1081.
Bilski B, Kandefer W. Determinants of locomotor system load and their health implications in a selected population of midwives. Med Pr 2007;58(1):, 7–12 [in Polish].
Engels J A, Landeweerd J A, Kant Y. An OWAS-based analysis of nurses’ working posture. Ergonomics 1994;37(5):909–919.
Li G, Buckle P. Current techniques for assessing physical exposure to work-related musculoskeletal risks, with emphasis on posture-based methods. Ergonomics 1999;42(5):674–695.
Baum K, Hoy S, Essfeld D. Continuous monitoring of spine geometry: A new approach to study back pain in space. Int J Sports Med 1997;18(Suppl 4):331–333.
Katz S, Ford AB, Moskowitz AW, Jackson BA, Jaffe MW. The index of ADL: A standardized measure of biological and psychosocial function. JAMA 1963;185:914–919.
Stanisz A. Accessible statistics course using STATISTICA PL on examples from medicine. Wyd. StatSoft, Kraków 2006 [in Polish].
Konishi K, Kumashiro M, Izumi H. Work posture of student midwives using frontal birth assistance techniques and examination of psychological burden — comparison with experienced midwives. Jpn J Ergon 2006;42(4):251–258.
Adams MA. Biomechanics of back pain. Acupunct Med 2004;22(4):178–178.
Browne JE, O’Hare NJ. Review of the different methods for assessing standing balance. Physiotherapy 2001;87(9):489–495.
Kavounoudias A, Gilhodes J-C, Roll R, Roll J-P. From balance regulation to body orientation: two goals for muscle proprioceptive information processing? Exp Brain Res 1999;124(1):80–88.
Kavounoudias A, Roll R, Roll J-P. Foot sole and ankle muscle inputs contribute jointly to human erect posture regulation. J Physiol 2001;532(3):869–878.
Dietz V, Gollhofer A, Kleiber M, Trippel M. Regulation of bipedal stance: dependency on “load” receptors. Exp Brain Res 1992;89(1):229–231.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Nowotny-Czupryna, O., Naworska, B., Brzęk, A. et al. Professional experience and ergonomic aspects of midwives’ work. IJOMEH 25, 265–274 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/S13382-012-0034-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/S13382-012-0034-6