Dynamometric assessment of the upper extremity in upholstered furniture workers

For preventing the onset of disorders of the upper extremity, in upholstered furniture workers, it was decided to monitor their handgrip applying a method previously developed to 262 volunteers recruited among upholstered furniture workers. At the test time, only 23 subjects had clinical symptoms referable to upper limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders (clinical symptomatic group), while the remaining 239 subjects made up the clinical asymptomatic group. The measurement system consists of a dynamometer combining a handle screwed to a load cell constrained by a rigid metal framework and connected to 8-bit datalogger. The device was designed to ensure that the handgrip could be exerted without the subject being able to perceive any movement of the test device. Dynamometer signals were sampled at 110 Hz and relayed to a personal computer.