Title
Effects of varying the rest period on the onset angle of lumbar flexion-relaxation in simulated sheep shearing: a preliminary study
Abstract
Wool harvesting remains an important industry in Australia, but its workers suffer from extreme rates of injury, in particular, the lower back injuries. Reducing injuries in sheep shearing could be as simple as extending shearer rest periods between sheep, but the effect of this has not previously been studied. The lumbar flexion-relaxation phenomenon is present in sheep shearing and the onset angle of this phenomenon can provide insight into lower back injury risk. The increase in the onset angle of lumbar flexion-relaxation over several work-rest periods for a simulated sheep shearing task is studied. The rate of increase in the onset angle of lumbar flexion-relaxation was higher when shorter breaks were taken for all participants at least unilaterally, indicating that longer rest breaks could reduce back injury risk. Due to the constraints of the sheep shearing occupation, this type of intervention is better suited to learner and novice shearers. Assistive robotic devices would be more suited to reduce injuries in expert shearers, and some insight is provided for the application of these within sheep shearing. Further study of this phenomenon in sheep shearing could provide additional insight to developing an assistive device that could reduce injury.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1109/ICORR.2019.8779480
2019 IEEE 16th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR)
Keywords
Field
DocType
Adult,Animal Husbandry,Animals,Australia,Humans,Lumbosacral Region,Male,Occupational Exposure,Orthotic Devices,Rest,Sheep,Spinal Injuries,Wool,Young Adult
Shearing (physics),Lower back injury,Electromyography,Lumbar,Physical medicine and rehabilitation,Medicine,Back injury
Conference
Volume
ISSN
ISBN
2019
1945-7898
978-1-7281-2756-9
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
1
0.40
1
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Mark Robinson110.40
Raphael Mayer210.40
Ying Tan373786.47
Denny Oetomo410031.30
Chris Manzie531846.66