IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i2p1174-d1030099.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Lift-Assist Device Regarding Caregiver Posture and Muscle Load for Transferring Tasks

Author

Listed:
  • Yong-Ku Kong

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea)

  • Kyeong-Hee Choi

    (Digital Healthcare R&D Department, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Cheonan 31056, Republic of Korea)

  • Sang-Soo Park

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea)

  • Jin-Woo Shim

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea)

  • Hyun-Ho Shim

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to confirm the effect of a lift-assist device when performing a patient-lifting task. Ten working caregivers participated in this experiment, and lifting patients from bed to wheelchair (B2C) and wheelchair to bed (C2B) was performed for manual care (MC) and lift-assist device (robot) care (RC). EMG sensors and IMU motion sensors were attached as indicators of the assistive device’s effectiveness. EMG was attached to the right side of eight muscles (UT, MD, TB, BB, ES, RF, VA, and TA), and flexion/extension angles of the neck, shoulder, back, and knee were collected using motion sensors. As a result of the analysis, both B2C and C2B showed higher muscle activities in MC than RC. When using a lift-assist device to lift patients, the RC method showed reductions in muscle activities compared to MC. As a result of the work-posture analysis, both the task type and the task phase exhibited pronounced reductions in shoulder, back, and knee ROM (range of motion) compared to those of MC. Therefore, based on the findings of this study, a lift-assist device is recommended for reducing the physical workloads of caregivers while performing patient-lifting tasks.

Suggested Citation

  • Yong-Ku Kong & Kyeong-Hee Choi & Sang-Soo Park & Jin-Woo Shim & Hyun-Ho Shim, 2023. "Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Lift-Assist Device Regarding Caregiver Posture and Muscle Load for Transferring Tasks," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-17, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1174-:d:1030099
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1174/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1174/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1174-:d:1030099. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.