Nurses in long-term care homes often crush pills into a fine powder using a manual pill crushing device. This study provides novel quantitative data on muscle loading experienced during pill crushing. The influence of surface height, number of pills and device orientation were studied in twelve muscles of the upper extremity. Variations in the work surface height and number of pills crushed resulted in static shoulder and forearm muscle activations that exceeded recommended static limits. In most cases, working at approximately a 50th percentile female's hip height (87 cm) reduced the level of muscle activity, often to below the EMG-based exposure limit, compared to higher heights. A perpendicularly oriented device required substantially lower muscle activity in some shoulder muscles, with marginal differences occurring in muscles of the elbow and wrist. These data can inform practical design and work practice recommendations to reduce muscular activity while performing this important healthcare task.

长期护理院的护士经常使用手动药丸粉碎装置将药丸粉碎成细粉。这项研究提供了有关压丸过程中肌肉负荷的新定量数据。在上肢的 12 块肌肉中研究了表面高度、药丸数量和装置方向的影响。工作表面高度和压碎药丸数量的变化导致静态肩部和前臂肌肉激活超过推荐的静态限制。在大多数情况下，与较高的身高相比，在大约 50% 的女性臀部高度（87 厘米）下工作会降低肌肉活动水平，通常低于基于 EMG 的暴露限制。垂直定向的设备需要显着降低某些肩部肌肉的肌肉活动，在肘部和腕部的肌肉中发生边缘差异。这些数据可以为实际设计和工作实践建议提供信息，以在执行这项重要的医疗保健任务时减少肌肉活动。