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This study aims to test the effects of Celliant armbands on grip strength in subjects with chronic wrist and elbow pain. Celliant® is a functional textile fabric containing minerals that emit infrared radiation (IR) in response to body heat. IR-emitting fabrics have biological effects including the reduction of pain and inflammation and the stimulation of muscle function.

A randomized placebo-controlled trial recruited 80 subjects (40 per group) with a six-month history of chronic wrist or elbow pain (carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis or arthritis) to wear an armband (real Celliant or placebo fabric) on the affected wrist or elbow for two weeks. Grip strength was measured by a dynamometer before and after the two-week study.

For the placebo group, the mean grip strength increased from 47.95 ± 25.14 (baseline) to 51.69 ± 27.35 (final), whereas for the Celliant group, it increased from 46.3 ± 22.02 to 54.1 ± 25.97. The mean per cent increase over the two weeks was +7.8% for placebo and +16.8% for Celliant (p = 0.0372). No adverse effects was observed.

Limitations include the wide variation in grip strength in the participants at baseline measurement, which meant that only the percentage increase between baseline and final measurements showed a significant difference. Moreover, no subjective measurements of pain or objective neurophysiology testes was done.

Celliant armbands are easy to wear and have not been shown to produce any adverse effects. Therefore, there appears to be no barrier to prevent widespread uptake.

IR-emitting textiles have been studied for their beneficial effects, both in patients diagnosed with various disorders and also in healthy volunteers for health and wellness purposes. Although there are many types of textile technology that might be used to produce IR-emitting fabrics, including coating of the fabric with a printed layer of ceramic material, incorporating discs of mineral into the garment, the authors feel that incorporating ceramic particles into the polymer fibers from which the fabric is woven is likely to be the most efficient way of achieving the goal.

Celliant armbands appear to be effective in painful upper limb inflammatory disorders, and further studies are warranted. The mechanism of action is not completely understood, but the hypothesis that the emitted IR radiation is absorbed by nanostructured intracellular water provides some theoretical justification.

Aircraft maintenance technician (AMT) is the most critical profession in the aircraft maintenance system. The tasks of a licensed AMT require expertise and involve repetitive physical tasks such as tightening or loosening aircraft parts, carrying or removing parts during long working hours under time pressure and day/night shifts. This study aims to attract attention to the difficult working conditions of AMTs and identify the body parts that are at risk of musculoskeletal disorder (MSD).

A questionnaire is developed by the authors to gather demographic information, use of hand tools, equipment, use of fall protection, manual material handling (lifting, pushing, pulling), load weight, environmental factors, and MSD discomfort level perceptions. The questionnaire is applied to 150 AMTs during six months period, and the obtained data are analyzed by sequential ordinal logistic regression (OLR) models.

The ORL results confirm that the use of equipment (lift platform, scissors lift), safety belt attached to the platform, manual material handling, environmental factors (humidity, vibration and illumination) and resting periods have a significant effect on MSD risks. On the contrary, age, experience level, use of small hand tools, temperature and noise are not identified as statistically significant.

The study is original for it considers the working conditions and perceived discomfort levels of AMTs. A questionnaire is introduced to assess the consequences of the use of tools, equipment, fall protection equipment, environmental conditions and work organization on various body parts (neck, shoulder, elbow, back, lower back, wrist-hand, hip, knee, and ankle-feet), and strain level is identified. The study contributes to the theoretical aircraft maintenance literature and managers in practice.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and determine factors influencing MSDs among rice farmers.

A cross-sectional study was carried out among 156 rice farmers from 14 villages in Tarnlalord sub-district, Phimai district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, from February 2017 to March 2017. Face-to-face interviews, including demographics, work characteristics and musculoskeletal pain, were conducted using a modified standardized Nordic questionnaire.

The results revealed that both 78 males and 78 females participated in the study to which the average of age and body mass index (BMI) was 45.5±11.4 years and 24.9±4.0 kg/m², respectively. All rice farmers reported MSDs in at least one body region during the six months preceding the interview. The highest prevalence of MSDs showed 86.5 percent in the lower back area, followed by 85.9 percent in the neck, and 80.7 percent in the shoulders. The analysis of binary logistic regression and Spearman’s rank correlation showed that factors such as gender, age, BMI, work experience and farm size influence MSDs’ occurrence, and pain severity in one or more body regions (p < 0.05).

Musculoskeletal injuries are a significant health problem in rice farmers. The study indicated that appropriate agricultural practices such as working posture, equipment size selection and carrying loads should be recommended to prevent MSDs. Thus, the occupational health and safety services in agricultural workers are needed.

The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has caught many educational institutions by surprise and warranted an abrupt migration from offline to online learning. This has resulted in an education change, without any time for due consideration, as regards its impact on musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) on students. The purpose of this study is to investigate MSD related to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on undergraduate students in India. In total, 261 students participated in this online survey.

The study finds that around 80% of students have reported some symptom in the head, neck and eyes since they started online learning. In total, 58% have reported MSD symptom in the right shoulder and 56% in the right hand fingers. Besides, more than 40 % of students experienced some MSD symptoms, in almost all the body parts studied, due to online learning. Correlation analysis is conducted between time spent on online learning per day and MSD symptoms.

This is the first study conducted on MSD and online learning during COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to design and develop a new robotic device for the rehabilitation of the upper limbs. The authors are focusing on a new symmetrical robot which can be used to rehabilitate the right upper limb and the left upper limb. The robotic arm can be automatically extended or reduced depending on the measurements of the patient's arm. The main idea is to integrate electrical stimulation into motor rehabilitation by robot. The goal is to provide automatic electrical stimulation based on muscle status during the rehabilitation process.

The developed robotic arm can be automatically extended or reduced depending on the measurements of the patient's arm. The system merges two rehabilitation strategies: motor rehabilitation and electrical stimulation. The goal is to take the advantages of both approaches. Electrical stimulation is often used for building muscle through endurance, resistance and strength exercises. However, in the proposed approach the electrical stimulation is used for recovery, relaxation and pain relief. In addition, the device includes an electromyography (EMG) muscle sensor that records muscle activity in real time. The control architecture provides the ability to automatically activate the appropriate stimulation mode based on the acquired EMG signal. The system software provides two modes for stimulation activation: the manual preset mode and the EMG driven mode. The program ensures traceability and provides the ability to issue a patient status monitoring report.

The developed robotic device is symmetrical and reconfigurable. The presented rehabilitation system includes a muscle stimulator associated with the robot to improve the quality of the rehabilitation process. The integration of neuromuscular electrical stimulation into the physical rehabilitation process offers effective rehabilitation sessions for neuromuscular recovery of the upper limb. A laboratory-made stimulator is developed to generate three modes of stimulation: pain relief, massage and relaxation. Through the control software interface, the physiotherapist can set the exercise movement parameters, define the stimulation mode and record the patient training in real time.

There are certain constraints when applying the proposed method, such as the sensitivity of the acquired EMG signals. This involves the use of professional equipment and mainly the implementation of sophisticated algorithms for signal extraction.

Functional electrical stimulation and robot-based motor rehabilitation are the most important technologies applied in post-stroke rehabilitation. The main objective of integrating robots into the rehabilitation process is to compensate for the functions lost in people with physical disabilities. The stimulation technique can be used for recovery, relaxation and drainage and pain relief. In this context, the idea is to integrate electrical stimulation into motor rehabilitation based on a robot to obtain the advantages of the two approaches to further improve the rehabilitation process. The introduction of this type of robot also makes it possible to develop new exciting assistance devices.

The proposed design is symmetrical, reconfigurable and light, covering all the joints of the upper limbs and their movements. In addition, the developed platform is inexpensive and a portable solution based on open source hardware platforms which opens the way to more extensions and developments. Electrical stimulation is often used to improve motor function and restore loss of function. However, the main objective behind the proposed stimulation in this paper is to recover after effort. The novelty of the proposed solution is to integrate the electrical stimulation powered by EMG in robotic rehabilitation.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the physiotherapeutic benefits of bilateral symmetric training (BST) for stroke survivors affected by hemiparesis.

Other studies have investigated symmetric physiotherapy. A key difficulty in previous work is in maintaining mirror-imaged trajectories between the affected and less-affected limbs. This obstacle was overcome in this work by using a two-armed robotic exoskeleton to enforce symmetry. In total, 15 subjects, > 6 months post stroke were, randomly assigned to bilateral symmetric robotic training, unilateral robotic training, and standard physical therapy.

After 12 training sessions (90 minutes/session), the bilateral training group had the greatest intensity of movement training. They also had the greatest improvement in range of motion at the shoulder. The unilateral training group showed the greatest reduction in spasticity.

The rationale for symmetric physiotherapy is that it might promote connections from the undamaged brain hemisphere. The robot generated copious amounts of detailed kinematic data. Even though these data provided insights into the human to machine interface using different training modalities, it proved difficult to draw neurological conclusions. It is recommended that future research along these lines should include measures of neurophysiological change and/or changes in neurological activity.

This research suggests that the advantage of bilateral symmetric movement over other modalities is slight, and that robotic training has comparable results with standard care. If BST is used, care is potentially needed to avoid exacerbation of spasticity. Finally, this research includes a novel quantitative approach for evaluating robotic training.

This study is of value to therapeutic researchers interested in new physiotherapy techniques, roboticists interested in developing rehabilitation devices, or for rehabilitation game designers interested in using virtual reality.

Defines cumulative trauma disorders before going on to discuss the causes of these disorders. Considers the employer liability for the problem and proposed occupational safety and health proposals. Suggests techniques for prevention. Looks at handling claims and current practices for preventing and reacting to the disorder with case examples. Concludes that the volume of litigation will lead to implementation of further legislation in the future.

Assistive technology is a term used to describe any device ranging from simple equipment to complex technologies that can assist a person with a disability. The term is now applied to new technological devices to facilitate active rehabilitation as well as to equipment to enable a person to live with their condition. Current developments such as technology for stroke rehabilitation are rarely brought to the attention of health and social care practitioners, even though frontline staff will be at the forefront of implementation, and their views of the nature of devices and their appropriateness is pivotal. This paper describes some of the technologies being developed to assist the process and delivery of stroke rehabilitation, their potential benefits in practice and stakeholder perceptions of these new technologies.

This paper aims to provide an insight into the emerging use of robots in the rehabilitation of sufferers from strokes and other neurological impediments.

This considers research, clinical trials and commercial products. Following an introduction, it explains brain neuroplasticity and its role in rehabilitation and then discusses the use of robots in the restoration of upper limb and hand movement in stroke and traumatic injury patients. Robotic techniques aimed at restoring ambulatory ability are then discussed, followed by examples of the application of brain–computer interface technology to robotic rehabilitation. Finally, concluding comments are drawn.

Research has shown that robotic techniques can assist in the restoration of functionality to partially or fully paralysed upper and lower limbs. A growing number of commercial exoskeleton and end-effector robotic products have been launched which are augmenting conventional rehabilitation therapies. These systems frequently include interactive computer games and tasks which encourage repetitive use and allow patients to monitor their progress. Trials which combine robotics with brain–computer interface technology have yielded encouraging and unexpectedly positive results.

This provides details of the increasingly important role played by robots in the rehabilitation of patients suffering from strokes and other neurological disorders.