Kin research combats shoulder injury

from the UW media relations office

Innovative digital ergonomics research led by a UW faculty member aims to make workplaces safer by eliminating a common injury —- shoulder strain.

By combining computer technologies, such as digital human modelling, together with laboratory experiments, Clark Dickerson and his research team are working toward reducing the risks or stresses involved in jobs even before the workplaces are built. As a result, the research should ultimately lead to better health among employees and lower injury compensation costs.

Dickerson, a professor of kinesiology, has been awarded a grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to advance research in digital ergonomics aimed at preventing shoulder injuries on the job. His project, entitled Enabling Advanced Digital Ergonomics and Shoulder Biomechanics Research, has a total budget of $470,630, with $178,035 from CFI's leaders opportunity fund and the remainder from provincial and industry sources.

Dickerson's team investigates how to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace. These pathologies, caused by exposure to stressful work conditions, represent more than $100 billion in annual costs to society. Commonly injured areas of the body include the low back, wrists and shoulder.

Dickerson, who earned his PhD in biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan, said his work provides computerized design tools and enables insights into the impact of human body movements, including muscle activity in the shoulders, arms and hands. "These can then be used together to improve the safety and usability of workspaces and other man-machine interfaces, thereby reducing the frequency and severity of occupational shoulder injuries," he said.

His research team studies typical tasks at work, including dynamic movements with force and precision requirements. To quantify the impact of such tasks on the shoulder, researchers develop several biomechanical computer models and then evaluate the models through experiments.

The team uses a dynamic model of the upper limb to calculate joint torques and forces. Then, a computer model of the internal shoulder geometry reconstructs the underlying musculoskeletal structure. That model establishes the line-of-action of each muscle, as well as the positions and orientations of each bone. "This model calculates the instantaneous orientations of 38 muscle elements," Dickerson said.

Another computer model balances the forces and torques created by external loads through distributing muscular demand with an optimization approach, which also estimates specific tissue stresses. Yet another model describes a mathematical formulation of physical efforts.

In the lab, experiments are conducted with human subjects to monitor movement, muscle activity, work perception and hand forces. Afterward, the results of the computer models are compared with the empirical data.

"The primary purpose of our approach is to enable informed prospective job design," Dickerson said, explaining that integration of computer models with existing software allows simulated future jobs to be analyzed for potentially injurious stresses to shoulder tissues. "Simply put, we want to increase the comfort of workers and decrease the effort in the shoulder when they perform their work, and we would like to do so before they are exposed to potentially harmful work environments."

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Keystone profiles chem eng professor

Bill Anderson (left) attended UW as an undergraduate student in the '70s, began his career in the petrochemicals industry for a few years, and then returned to UW for graduate studies. After earning an MASc and PhD in chemical engineering at UW he never left. “In 1991, I continued my career at the University, right out of school into school,” he says.

Anderson, who is now a professor and associate chair for undergraduate studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering, is this month's featured donor on the Keystone Campaign web site. "To continue the university tradition," the profile says, "his daughter Emily is attending Renison College in Honours Arts."

What do you enjoy most about your job at UW? "I like working with students in teaching, research, and advisement and I enjoy developing and working on new and novel research topics in the areas of biochemical and environmental engineering. I personally value working at the University because it’s a community of good people who are easy to work with to accomplish things that I feel are important."

Why do you feel the University needs funds today? "Although there’s been a lot of investment in buildings and equipment, there continues to be a severe lack of funding for people – for example graduate student research support and scholarships. I designate my gift to undergraduate scholarships in Engineering and at Renison College."

What motivated you personally to give to UW? "I am proud to work at the University because it is known nationally and internationally for the quality of its faculty, staff, and students and the excellent results that come from those people. Donating to the Keystone Campaign is a worthwhile way to make a difference in addition to the day to day work that I do."

What do you enjoy in your spare time? "Most of my time is shared between work and family — with my wife Patricia, daughter, two sons, a cat, and a Newfoundland dog!"

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Flakes in the daily . . . flurry?

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas yesterday, with the season's first snowflakes in the air, and I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that an announcement has arrived about one of UW's major seasonal events: the annual craft sale sponsored by the staff association. It's scheduled for November 23 and 24 this year, a Thursday and Friday. "There are a couple of vacancies for anyone who is interested in participating," writes Sue Fraser of the kinesiology department, who's organizing things for the association's social committee. "To be eligible you must be an employee or retiree of UW. All items must be handcrafted." For more information, she can be reached at ext. 3-2968.

And Melissa Onn, director of marketing for the Federation of Students, notes that people are booking Christmas parties about now, and she's got a facility for them to consider: Federation Hall. A bright red flyer promotes a "seasonal celebration" there on three dates, December 1, 8 and 9, with a rate of $29.95 per person ("semi-formal attire") including a buffet dinner, wine, music, and dancing. "We warmly welcome your company, department, family, or group of any size to join us for this festive evening," the announcement says. Onn adds: "We started this event last year with one night and it was a big success, so we would like to open it up on campus to anyone who may be interested this year." More information: ext. 3-5925.

In case anybody hasn't had time to check yet, here's the word on the scheduling of the year-end break. The last day of classes for the fall term is December 5, and exams run December 8 through 22 (the 22nd being a Friday). Things close down then, as faculty and staff (except those maintaining a few essential services) are off work Monday to Friday, December 25-29, and Monday, January 1. Staff are back to work Tuesday, January 2, 2007, and winter term classes begin Wednesday, January 3.

In other matters, and back to this chilly October day, a faculty member from the physics department is playing a key role this morning in a news conference being held at the headquarters of COM DEV International, down in Cambridge. He's Michel Fich, an astronomer who plays a key role in scientific instrumentation for the Herschel Space Observatory, due to be launched by the European Space Agency next year. Today's event is to celebrate the shipment of a $10 million subsystem for the observatory that was built by COM DEV, a major manufacturer of high-tech equipment, and is being shipped out in preparation for assembly of the spacecraft. Canadian scientists, led by Fich, will be using the observatory to search for the existence of water — the basic molecule of life — in a galaxy far, far away.

Dana Evans Laity, international coordinator in the marketing and undergraduate recruitment office, has a somewhat shorter trip ahead of her. She's leaving for Mexico on the weekend, to spend about nine days visiting high schools and attending university fairs in Mexico City, Cuernavaca, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Queretaro. "This marks the fourth year that we have participated in this tour in Mexico," she says, "with a focus of targeting undergraduate students at top-quality high schools and building relationships with parents and international high school counsellors." A total of nine Canadian institutions are making the trip.

The second of two candidates to be president of St. Jerome's University, Solange Lefebvre of the Université de Montréal, is visiting St. Jerome's today. . . . Some items from the Larry Lamb mineral collection that was donated to UW's earth sciences museum last year are on display (until March) at the Ontario Legislature building in Toronto. . . . Accounting students, whose employment process isn't in synch with the schedule for most other co-op students, are ranking their job choices for the winter term today. . . .

CAR

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