TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of muscle synergies and their consistency among fresh fruit bunches manual harvesters in a real-life oil palm industry
AU - Teo, Yu Xuan
AU - Chan, Yon Sin
AU - Nurzaman, Surya Girinatha
AU - Gouwanda, Darwin
AU - Gopalai, Alpha Agape
N1 - Funding Information:
Yu Xuan Teo and Yon Sin Chan are supported by Graduate Research Merit Scholarship , Monash University Malaysia . This work is supported by the Advanced Engineering Platform and Monash Industry Palm Oil Education and Research Platform , Monash University Malaysia , and a project entitled “Analysis of Fresh Fruit Bunch Cutters' and Loose Fruit Collectors' dynamics: Towards soft wearable robots to increase their productivity” in collaboration with Sime Darby.
Funding Information:
Yu Xuan Teo and Yon Sin Chan are supported by Graduate Research Merit Scholarship, Monash University Malaysia. This work is supported by the Advanced Engineering Platform and Monash Industry Palm Oil Education and Research Platform, Monash University Malaysia, and a project entitled “Analysis of Fresh Fruit Bunch Cutters' and Loose Fruit Collectors' dynamics: Towards soft wearable robots to increase their productivity” in collaboration with Sime Darby.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - Oil palm industry still relies on manual harvesting, a physicality-reliant task that was found related to the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among the harvesters. Through experience, common muscle synergies could be found among healthy subjects, which could be useful for screening any possible musculoskeletal disorders. This study investigated and confirmed the consistency of the muscle synergies used by healthy, well-trained harvesters during a real-life fresh fruit bunches (FFB) manual harvesting task with eight enrolled subjects. The subjects' muscle synergies during the manual harvesting were investigated from seven upper limb muscles in an outdoor environment. Our results demonstrated that the harvesters consistently used three muscle synergies to perform the manual harvesting task, dedicated to different upper body parts (neck, upper arm, and lower back). The consistent number of synergies was accompanied by high intra- and inter-subject similarities (similarity index >0.7) found in the contribution of muscle in the synergies (weighting coefficient). On the other hand, the alteration in activation timing (SI < 0.6) in the harvesting movement was presumed to be related to the adaptation to environmental constraints, which were also observed in other relevant studies. The result, therefore, confirmed consistent muscle synergies among the oil palm harvesters even in an uncontrolled outdoor environment, providing a reference that brings benefits to the knowledge in the screening of musculoskeletal disorders among the harvesters. Relevance to industry: The paper presents an investigation of muscle synergies and their consistency among healthy, well-trained manual fresh fruit bunches (FFB) oil palm harvesters in an outdoor environment. The result, together with the presented methodologies, provide a reference that can be used in screening musculoskeletal disorders among harvesters in the industry.
AB - Oil palm industry still relies on manual harvesting, a physicality-reliant task that was found related to the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among the harvesters. Through experience, common muscle synergies could be found among healthy subjects, which could be useful for screening any possible musculoskeletal disorders. This study investigated and confirmed the consistency of the muscle synergies used by healthy, well-trained harvesters during a real-life fresh fruit bunches (FFB) manual harvesting task with eight enrolled subjects. The subjects' muscle synergies during the manual harvesting were investigated from seven upper limb muscles in an outdoor environment. Our results demonstrated that the harvesters consistently used three muscle synergies to perform the manual harvesting task, dedicated to different upper body parts (neck, upper arm, and lower back). The consistent number of synergies was accompanied by high intra- and inter-subject similarities (similarity index >0.7) found in the contribution of muscle in the synergies (weighting coefficient). On the other hand, the alteration in activation timing (SI < 0.6) in the harvesting movement was presumed to be related to the adaptation to environmental constraints, which were also observed in other relevant studies. The result, therefore, confirmed consistent muscle synergies among the oil palm harvesters even in an uncontrolled outdoor environment, providing a reference that brings benefits to the knowledge in the screening of musculoskeletal disorders among the harvesters. Relevance to industry: The paper presents an investigation of muscle synergies and their consistency among healthy, well-trained manual fresh fruit bunches (FFB) oil palm harvesters in an outdoor environment. The result, together with the presented methodologies, provide a reference that can be used in screening musculoskeletal disorders among harvesters in the industry.
KW - Fresh fruit bunches manual harvesting
KW - Healthy
KW - Muscle synergies
KW - Musculoskeletal disorders
KW - Oil palm industry
KW - Well-trained harvesters
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85170416561
U2 - 10.1016/j.ergon.2023.103499
DO - 10.1016/j.ergon.2023.103499
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85170416561
SN - 0169-8141
VL - 97
JO - International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
JF - International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
M1 - 103499
ER -
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being