Almost 100 percent of Raynaud's Phenomena of the lower extremities respond to surgical treatment. The treatment of Raynaud's Phenomena of the upper extremities, on the other hand, has occupied the attention of medical observers for over fifty years with little success. Surgeons, physicians, research workers, physicists and their associates have attempted to solve the problem and produce a rational solution.

This study applies the Washington State Ergonomics Tool to waste industry jobs in Texas. Exposure data were collected by on-site observation of fourteen different multi-task jobs in a major national solid waste management company employing more than 26,000 employees. This company has nationwide operations, and these jobs represent the majority of workers involved in the collection and processing of solid waste. The WSET uses observational checklist methodology to evaluate generic risk factors in the following six major categories: awkward posture, highly repetitive motion, high hand force, repeated impact, lifting, and hand-arm vibration. The assessment tool incorporates these risk factors and combinations of risk factors into checklists for identifying three levels of potential exposure: safe, -caution zone" and -hazard zone" jobs. The tool was developed for employers to use in determining whether a job was likely to increase the risk of workplace musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) to their employees. OSHA 200 logs were used as the main source of morbidity data. If there was one recorded WMSD, the job was classified as -positive. "If there was no recorded WMSD, the job was classified as -negative. "-Safe"jobs were those predicted not to expose workers to increased risk of WMSDs. Those that possessed one or more -caution zone"criteria but still fell below the -hazard zone" threshold required the employer to provide -awareness education" for employees and to further analyze the job for the presence of -hazard zone" risk factors. If hazard zone risk factors were not present, no further action was required. Jobs that upon further analysis possessed one or more of the -hazard zone"criteria were labeled -hazardous" jobs. If the further analysis shows the presence of risk factors established in the hazard zone criteria (Appendix B), the employer would be required to take corrective action to reduce exposures to below the hazardous level. Of the three jobs predicted to be -safe"by -caution zone" criteria, two did not have injuries and one did. Of the eleven jobs predicted by -caution zone"criteria to increase the risk of WMSDs, six resulted in injuries and five did not. Of the four jobs predicted by -hazard zone"criteria to be -problem"jobs, two jobs did result in injury and two did not. This study found that the WSET -caution zone"criteria were more effective at predicting which jobs were likely to increase the risk of WMSDs than was the -hazard zone"checklist. The caution zone had high sensitivity and low specificity. The hazard zone criteria reflect a low sensitivity and a low specificity. Further analysis revealed the WSET was helpful in predicting back injuries associated with lifting but not effective at predicting jobs with the potential for upper extremity injuries.

This study applies the Washington State Ergonomics Tool to waste industry jobs in Texas. Exposure data were collected by on-site observation of fourteen different multi-task jobs in a major national solid waste management company employing more than 26,000 employees. This company has nationwide operations, and these jobs represent the majority of workers involved in the collection and processing of solid waste. The WSET uses observational checklist methodology to evaluate generic risk factors in the following six major categories: awkward posture, highly repetitive motion, high hand force, repeated impact, lifting, and hand-arm vibration. The assessment tool incorporates these risk factors and combinations of risk factors into checklists for identifying three levels of potential exposure: safe, -caution zone" and -hazard zone" jobs. The tool was developed for employers to use in determining whether a job was likely to increase the risk of workplace musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) to their employees. OSHA 200 logs were used as the main source of morbidity data. If there was one recorded WMSD, the job was classified as -positive. "If there was no recorded WMSD, the job was classified as -negative. "-Safe"jobs were those predicted not to expose workers to increased risk of WMSDs. Those that possessed one or more -caution zone"criteria but still fell below the -hazard zone" threshold required the employer to provide -awareness education" for employees and to further analyze the job for the presence of -hazard zone" risk factors. If hazard zone risk factors were not present, no further action was required. Jobs that upon further analysis possessed one or more of the -hazard zone"criteria were labeled -hazardous" jobs. If the further analysis shows the presence of risk factors established in the hazard zone criteria (Appendix B), the employer would be required to take corrective action to reduce exposures to below the hazardous level. Of the three jobs predicted to be -safe"by -caution zone" criteria, two did not have injuries and one did. Of the eleven jobs predicted by -caution zone"criteria to increase the risk of WMSDs, six resulted in injuries and five did not. Of the four jobs predicted by -hazard zone"criteria to be -problem"jobs, two jobs did result in injury and two did not. This study found that the WSET -caution zone"criteria were more effective at predicting which jobs were likely to increase the risk of WMSDs than was the -hazard zone"checklist. The caution zone had high sensitivity and low specificity. The hazard zone criteria reflect a low sensitivity and a low specificity. Further analysis revealed the WSET was helpful in predicting back injuries associated with lifting but not effective at predicting jobs with the potential for upper extremity injuries.

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This thesis presents the design, simulation, and evaluation of a passive, wearable, and human-scale actuator that includes pulleys and uses polymers for energy storage. Repetitive tasks such as packing boxes on an assembly line may require high strength movements of the shoulder, arm, and hand and may result in musculoskeletal disorders. With the objective to offset the weight of the arm and thereby lower the forces on the muscles in the shoulder and arm, this actuator is able to provide gravity compensation for the upper extremities of workers, if used in conjunction with an arm exoskeleton. The actuator is passive, meaning that it does not use motors or sensors, but instead creates a force on a cable that is a function of the displacement of the cable. This thesis details the design of the actuator and the selection of an appropriate polymer for use with the actuator. To determine the best polymer for this application, tests were conducted on nine polymers to ind their average Young's modulus and their hysteresis. A 90A abrasion-resistant polyurethane rubber belt was used in the final design due to its high modulus and low hysteresis. The final actuator design was tested in an Instron machine to validate its performance. During testing, the actuator provided 720N in extension and 530N in retraction, which are roughly 112% and 83% of the torque required to lift a human arm, respectively. / Master of Science / The development of industry increases productivity, and brings convenience to people’s life, but in the meantime it also increases work-related illnesses. Based on such condition, mechanical devices such as exoskeletons can be applied to support arms of wearer to perform tasks for longer durations and with less effort. In this thesis, we present a wearable actuator that contains pulleys and polymer belts. With rather light weight and small size, the actuator is located on the waist of wearer, and connected to the arm exoskeleton by cable. As the arm moves, the polymer belts within the actuator will be stretched and counteract the effects of movements. All in all, the design of the actuator must be portable, light-weight and with simple design that can be sufficient to meet actual requirements.

To prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), useful, reliable and valid methods for assessing physical workload and risks for MSDs are needed. Ergonomists often assess work by short visual observations without a specific tool. A branch-specific tool was developed for assessing working technique during cash register work (BAsiK observation protocol). Inclinometers are an alternative for assessing upper arm postures - over several days. Ergonomists need guidelines explaining how to analyze and interpret such data. The aim was to examine and investigate methods for assessing physical load at work, with focus on the neck and upper extremities. In Paper: I, the reliability and criterion validity of the BAsIK observation protocol were assessed. II, the reliability of risk assessments of repetitive work, based on visual observations performed by 21 ergonomists without a specific tool, was assessed. III, whole-day inclinometer measurements of upper arm elevation were compared between work and leisure, across 13 different occupations – before and after arm elevations during sitting time was excluded. IV, the association between inclinometer-based upper arm elevation and neck/shoulder pain was assessed among 654 blue-collar workers.   The intra-observer reliability of the BAsIK protocol was deemed acceptable, but only 3 of 10 questions in the protocol showed acceptable inter-observer reliability, and 3 showed acceptable criterion validity. Neither the inter- or intra-observer reliability of risk assessment without any specific method was acceptable for any upper body regions. None of the occupation groups, in paper III, had higher proportion of time with arm elevation during work than leisure. However, when arm elevation during sitting was excluded, 8 occupation groups had higher proportion of time with elevated arms during work than leisure. Whole-workday inclinometer-based upper arm elevation was not associated with neck/shoulder pain within the assessed population.    The results indicate that, in most cases, a single visual observation of a work sequence is not a reliable means of assessing repetitive work. A large proportion of arm elevation may derive from sitting time. At low exposure levels, arm elevation per se may not be a risk factor for neck/shoulder pain. This must be taken into account when evaluating the risk for MSDs.

In the first part of the thesis Objectification of disorders of the fine motor skills of the upper extremities in the patients with hereditary neuropathies there are mentioned some brief informations about characteristics, classifications, clinical symptoms, deformities and testing of upper extremities, rehabilitation and treatment of CMT neuropathy. The practical part of this thesis is concerned with testing and evaluating of strength, fine motor skills and sensation of the upper extremities in the patients with CMT. For the measurement of the hand strenght the dynamometry and the functional muscle test are used. The Jebsen-Taylor test, the Nine-Hole Peg Test and the examination of static and dynamic handgrip rating are used. For the examination of the sensation the Nottingham Sensory Assessment is used. CMT neuropathy score and Overall Neuropathy Disability Scaleare are used for the classification of disability. The aim of this thesis is the comparison of the muscle strength and the function of the dominant and non-dominant hand. Partial aim of thesis is detection of the correlations between tests. According to the results CMT disease leads to the muscle strenght weakness and to worsening of the fine motor skills mainly of the dominant upper extremity. This may be the result of overwork weakness. For...

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