| Learning Objective #1: Understand the physiology and source of discomfort of cumulative trauma disease when doing repetitive motion | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Understand the usefulness of flexion and extension exercises to reduce the discomfort and disease when doing repetitive motion tasks |
Cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) are soft tissue injuries of the muscles, nerves, and joints. CTDs are an accumulation of progressive pathological changes that ultimately culminate into an injury. The hallmark symptoms of clinical CTDs are discomfort, pain, and paresthesias The purpose of this study was to explore exercises that impact the individual worker in an effort to reduce the pathology of CTDs. Two exercise protocols were done on workers doing repetitive motion tasks. Flexion exercises were compared to extension exercises in a six-week exercise training program. Three industrial sites were used to conduct the study, all with a high incidence of upper extremity CTDs claims. A convenience sample of 70 subjects were randomly assigned to one of four exercise or control groups. A repeated-measures ANOVA using a one-within, one-between design was used. The variables were discomfort, measured by a visual-analog-scale, and strength in six upper extremity muscle groups. The results were as follows: Discomfort: Discomfort was significantly reduced in all subjects doing exercise training across the groups after six weeks [F=43.85, (2, 62) p=.000]. Strength: An overall significant increase in strength was observed following six weeks of exercise training [F=12.32, p=.000]. A significant difference in strength across all six muscles tested was also seen [F=67.38, p=.000]. Finally, a significant interaction effect among the six muscle groups, the three time periods (baseline, three, and six weeks), and the five subject groups was observed [F=1.53, p=.035]. However, the Mauchly’s Test of Sphericity revealed that the sample had a high variance in strength across time. These data were interpreted cautiously due to the violation of this assumption. This study provides an important method to reduce the pathology of CTDs occurring from workers doing repetitive motion tasks. Exercise training may be a factor in diminishing the individual workers’ vulnerability to CTDs.
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