Localized Fatigue in Accounting- Machine Operators

Abstract

In order to study health problems related to keyboard operation, subjective symptoms of female accounting-machine operators were compared with those of sales-women in a department store. In addition the relationships between symptoms and length of service in accounting-machine operation, and between arm-hand symptoms and the motion of the right and left arms and hands were analyzed. The results lead to the following assumption of causal relations: (1) Tiredness, pain, stiffness, cramps, tremor and numbness in the right hand are important symptoms among accounting-machine operators and are related to repeated use of the right arm and hand in tapping the keyboard. (2) Tiredness, pain and stiffness in the left hand are also work-related symptoms of the operators and are related to the motion of the left hand in turning over coupons (3) Stiffness and pain in the area of the lumbar spine, stiffness in the cervical spine, and pain in the left side of the neck are related to the sitting posture with the neck bent forward and to the left. (4) Eyestrain and painful eyes are more frequent in the operators than in the sales-women. These symptoms are most probably related to visual tasks in accounting-machine operation. This pattern of stiffness, pain and other symptoms seems to be chronic and to develop into a kind of disease in some operators. The observations here conform closely to the picture of the occupational cervicobrachial disorder in Japan. From the standpoint of clinical medicine, it is difficult to combine the various work-related symptoms of the operators into a single disease. But from the standpoint of industrial medicine, it appears to be possible to group the symptoms into a specific pattern of occupational chronic (or clinical) fatigue produced by a specific pattern of work loads, i.e., the combination of repetitive, stereotyped upper limb exertion, static posture, and mental and visual stress.

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