Bright Star University Faculty of Engineering

Department of Occupational Safety and Health Engineering

HS352 - Compatibility Engineering Fall 2024

Topic: 3 - Biomechanics of Work

 What is Biomechanics?
 The Musculoskeletal System
 Biomechanical Models
 Low-Back Problems
 NIOSH Lifting Guide
 Upper Extremity Cumulative Trauma Disorders

Textbooks:
• Wickens, C., Lee, J., Liu, Y., Gordon-Becker, S., An Introduction to Human
Factors Engineering, 2nd Edition, 2004, Pearson Prentice Hall.

• Bridger, R., Introduction to Ergonomics, 2003, Taylor & Francis.

• Kroemer, K., Kroemer, H., Kroemer-Elbert, K., Engineering Physiology,

Bases of Human Factors/Ergonomics, 4th edition, 2010, Springer.

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 3 - Biomechanics of Work

 What is Biomechanics?

 Definition of Awkward posture is a deviation of a joint from the preferred

neutral position such as performing a task with different body parts (e.g., back,
joints) twisted or bent backward or forward rather than in the neutral position
(the normal position of body parts).
 It seems that one should be able to learn not to awkwardly lift objects from
the floor (as in Figure 21.9) but more safely between one’s legs (as shown in
Figure 21.10) or, better still, pick them up from an elevated storage place (as
in Figure 21.11).

FIGURE 21.9 Do not lift while awkwardly bending.

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 FIGURE 21.10 Try to lift a load between your legs. (Adapted from International
Labour Office, Maximum Weights in Load Lifting and Carrying, Occupational
Safety and Health Series #59, International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland,
1988.)

FIGURE 21.11 Take loads from an elevated location, not from the
floor. (Adapted from International Labour Office, Maximum Weights
in Load Lifting and Carrying, Occupational Safety and Health Series
#59, International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland, 1988.)

 awkward postures and heavy exertion forces are two major causes of
musculoskeletal problems.

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 Occupational biomechanics is "a science concerned with the mechanical
behavior of the musculoskeletal system and component tissues when physical
work is performed.
 In essence, biomechanics analyzes the human musculoskeletal system as
a mechanical system that obeys laws of physics. Thus, the most basic
concepts of occupational biomechanics are those concerning:
1) the structure and properties of the musculoskeletal system
2) and the laws and concepts of physics.

 The Musculoskeletal System:

a) Bones and Connective Tissues:

 There are 206 bones in a human body, and they form the rigid skeletal
structure.
 The skeleton establishes the body framework that holds all other body
parts together.
 Some bones protect internal organs, such as the skull, which covers and
protects the brain, and the rib cage, which shields the lungs and heart
from the outside.
 Some bones, such as the long bones of the upper and lower extremities,
work with the attached muscles to support body movement and activities.
 Each of the other four types of connective tissues has its own special
functions:
1) Tendons are dense, fibrous connective tissues that attach muscles to
bones and transmit the forces exerted by the muscles to the attached
bones.
2) Ligaments are also dense, fibrous tissues, but their function is to
connect the articular extremities of bones and help stabilize the
articulations of bones at joints.

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 3) Cartilage is a translucent elastic tissue that can be found on some
articular bony surfaces and in some organs, such as the nose and the
ear.
4) Fascia covers body structures and separates them from each other.

b) Muscles
• The musculoskeletal system has about 400 muscles, which make up about
40 to 50 percent of the body weight.

 Muscles are composed of bundles of muscle fibers, connective tissue, and

nerves.
 Muscle fibers are long, cylindrical cells consisting largely of contractile
elements called myofibrils.
 The connective tissue of muscle provides a channel through which nerves
and blood vessels enter and leave the muscle.
 The group of muscle fibers regulated by the branches of the same motor
nerve is called a motor unit, which is the basic functional unit of the
muscle.

 Muscle strength is the amount and direction of force or torque measured by

a measuring device under standardized measuring procedures.
 Muscle strength data have been collected for some muscle groups. For
example, the average male worker has a forearm flexion and extension
strength of about 276 Newton's when one arm is used, and the average
female worker has a forearm strength of about 160 Newton's.
 The torque-generating capability of an average male is about 14.1 Newton-
meters when turning a handle and about 4.1Newton-meters when turning a
key. For an average female: 8.6 Newton meters and 3.2 Newton-meters
respectively.

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 Biomechanical Models:

 Biomechanical models are mathematical models of the mechanical

properties of the human body.

 The fundamental basis of biomechanical modeling is the set of three

Newton‘s laws:
1. A mass remains in uniform motion or at rest until acted on by an
unbalanced external force.

2. Force is proportional to the acceleration of a mass.

3. Any action is opposed by reaction of equal magnitude.

 When a body or a body segment is not in motion, it is described as in static

equilibrium.
 For an object to be in static equilibrium, two conditions must be met:
1. the sum of all external forces acting on an object in static equilibrium
must be equal to zero.
2. the sum of all external moments acting on the object must be equal to zero.

 These two conditions play an essential role in biomechanical modeling.

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 Single - segment planar static model:
 A single-segment model analyzes an isolated body segment with the laws
of mechanics to identify the physical stress on the joints and muscles
involved.
 As an illustration, suppose a person is holding a load of 20 kg mass with
both hands in front of his body and his forearms are horizontal. The load is
equally balanced between the two hands.
 The distance between the load and elbow is 36 cm, as shown in the
schematic diagram. Only the right hand, right forearm, and right elbow are
shown and analyzed in the following calculations.

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W = mg
W= 20 kg X 9.8 m/s2= 196 N
Won-each-hand= 98 N
The elbow reactive force R elbow can be calculated as
Σ (forces at the elbow) = 0
-1 6 N -9 8 N + Relbow = 0
Relbow = 114 N
The elbow moment Melbow can be calculated as
Σ(moments at the elbow) = 0
(-16N)(0.18 m) + (-98N)(0.36 m) + Melbow= 0
Melbow= 38.16 N-m

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 Low-Back Problems:
 Manual material handling involving lifting, bending, and twisting motions of
the torso are a major cause of work-related low-back pain and disorders, both
in the occurrence rate and the degree of severity.
 Low-back pain is also common in sedentary work environments requiring a
prolonged, static sitting posture.
 Thus, manual handling and seated work become two of the primary job
situations in which the biomechanics of the back should be analyzed.

 Low-back biomechanics of lifting:

 The lower back is perhaps the most vulnerable link of the musculoskeletal
system in material handling because it is most distant from the load handled
by the hands.

 Both the load and the weight of the upper torso create significant stress on the
body structures at the low back, especially at the disc between the fifth lumbar
and the first sacral vertebrae (called the L5/S1 lumbosacral disc).

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When a person with an upper-body weight of Wtorso lifts a load with a weight of
Wload, the load and the upper torso create a combined clockwise rotational moment
that can be calculated as:
Mload-to-torso=Wload X h+WtorsoX b

Where
h is the horizontal distance from the load to the L5/S1 disc, and
b is the horizontal distance from the center of mass of the torso to the L5/S1 disc.
This clockwise rotational moment must be counteracted by a counterclockwise
rotational moment, which is produced by the back muscles with a moment arm of
about 5 cm. That is,

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 Mback-muscle= Fback-muscle X 5 (N-cm)
Σ(moments at the L5/S1 disc) = 0.
Fmuscle X 5 = WloadX h + Wtorso X b
Fmuscle=Wload X h/5 +Wtorso X b/5
Fmuscle=Wload X 40/5+WtorsoX20/5
Fmuscle= 8 X Wload + 4 X Wtorso

• This equation indicates that the back muscle force is eight times the load weight
and four times the torso weight combined.

 Suppose a person has a torso weight of 350 Na nd is lifting a load of 300N (about
30 kg). The above equation tells us that the back muscle force would be 3,800
N, which may exceed the capacity of some people.
 The normal range of strength capability of the erector spinal muscle at the low
back is 2,200 to 5,500 N.
 In addition to the muscle strength considerations, we must also consider the
compression force on the L5/S1 disc, which can be estimated with the following
equation on the basis of the first condition of equilibrium:

Σ(forces at the L5/S1 disc)=0.

Fcompression = Wload X cosα+Wtorso X cos α + Fmuscle
For example, suppose α = 55o. When a person with a torso weight of 350 N
lifts a load of 450 N, we have
Fcompression = 450 X cos 55 + 350 X cos 55 + 5000
Fcompression = 258 + 200 + 5000 = 5458 N

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