Thread by @KarlZelik

Occupational #wearables for monitoring low back load have potential to improve ergonomic assessments & enable personalized, continuous monitoring of overexertion injury risk in the workplace.
#biomechanics #ergonomics

Encouraged by what we discovered:
mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/2…

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We wanted to know: if we can only use a small number of wearable sensors to monitor low back loading, then which sensors should we use, where should we place them, what type of algorithm should we employ, & how accurately can we monitor back loading during material handling?

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To address this we synchronously collected data from the #biomechanics lab & from #wearables to analyze 10 individuals each performing 400 different material handling tasks. We explored dozens of candidate solutions that used IMUs on various body locations & pressure insoles.

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We found that the two key sensors for accurately monitoring low back loading are a trunk IMU & pressure insoles. Together with a Gradient Boosted Decision Tree algorithm they have potential to provide a practical, accurate & automated way to monitor back loading & injury risk.
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We also found that the key to realizing accurate lumbar load estimates with this wearable approach in the real world will likely be optimizing force estimates from pressure insoles.

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This was one of the largest data collections we’ve undertaken, using lab & wearable sensors to study ~400 tasks per participant. It was a lot of fun to dive deeper into the #biomechanics of ergonomics. Big kudos to lead author @EmilyMatijevich and our ML collaborator Peter.

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We’re really excited about the potential for #wearables to improve the quality, quantity & efficiency of #ergonomic assessments in industry, & to help usher in a new era of preventative occupational safety & health that transforms how musculoskeletal risk is managed & insured.
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It's worth highlighting that there are strong similarities between injury risk management in the workplace & in sports. These fields stand to learn a lot from each other.

#biomechanics #ergonomics

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Overuse/overexertion injuries are prevalent in both industry & sport. Portable, practical, automated & accurate tools that enable musculoskeletal load & injury risk monitoring have the potential to be game-changing in both these domains -- for science & societal wellbeing.

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Thus it was cool to see another new paper come out this week on the science (causal pathways) underlying sport overuse injuries. Kudos to @KalkhovenJudd @edwardswb @francoimpell on this insightful & timely paper on #musculoskeletal #biomechanics

link.springer.com/article/10.100…

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In conclusion: watch out overuse/overexertion injuries!

It's 2021 & you’re being put on notice: the arsenal of #ergonomics & #biomechanics & the future of #wearables is coming together to break you down & put you in check 😬

mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/2…

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