Abstract
Background
Despite widespread acknowledgement that strain injuries do occur to surgeons, ergonomic assessments in minimally invasive surgery are comparatively rare. Current assessment techniques rely on labor-intensive manual recording techniques, so there is a need for an automated system.
Methods
We used an optoelectronic measurement system to make postural measurements at frequencies of ~5 Hz and then converted these measurements to ergonomic stress scores using a modified Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method.
Results
We successfully recorded postures at least once per second during 96% of the time the surgeon was performing tissue manipulation tasks. We found that the ergonomic stress scores were comparatively high throughout the procedure, particularly for the wrist.
Conclusion
An automated high-frequency postural measurement system is feasible for making ergonomic assessments in an intraoperative setting. Such a system will also be a critical component in validating surgical simulations for use in training and credentialing surgeons and in designing and evaluating equipment.
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Online publication: 12 June 2001
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Person, J.G., Hodgson, A.J. & Nagy, A.G. Automated high-frequency posture sampling for ergonomic assessment of laparoscopic surgery. Surg Endosc 15, 997–1003 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004640080155
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004640080155