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Purpose: Student circus artists train as both artists and athletes with their bodies holding the key to professional success. The daily training load of student circus artists is often associated with maximum physical and psychological stress with injuries posing a threat to a potential professional career. The purpose of this study is the differentiated analysis and evaluation of work accidents in order to initiate the development of injury preventive programs.
Methods: The 17 years of data were obtained from standardized anonymous work accident records of the Berlin State Accident Insurance (UKB) as well as a State Artist Educational School (n = 169, Male: 70; Female: 99) from student artists. Evaluation and descriptive statistics were conducted with Excel 2007 and PASW Statistics 18.
Results: The injury risk seems to be relatively low (0.3 injuries/1000h). There are gender specific differences as to the location of injuries. Only 7% of the accidents demand a break of more than 3 days. Injury patterns vary depending on the activity and the employment of props/equipment. 75.2% of work accidents have multifactorial and 24.8% exogenous causes.
Conclusions: Because physical fitness is all important in the circus arts there are numerous options for injury prevention programs that should be realized subject to gender-specific differences. Follow-ups on chronic complaints and a more individual approach are indispensable due to the very specific activities in the circus arts.
URPOSE: Today, the majority of medical graduates in countries such as the UK, the US or Germany are female. This poses a major problem for workforce planning especially in urology. We here use first the first time the previously established Brüggmann Groneberg (BG) index to assess if female academic career options advance in urology.
METHODS: Different operating parameters (student population, urology specialist population, urology chair female:male (f:m) ratio) were collected from the Federal Office of Statistics, the Federal Chamber of Physicians and the medical faculties of 36 German universities. Four time points were monitored (2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015). From these data, female to male (f:m) ratios and the recently established career advancement (BG) index have been calculated.
RESULTS: The German hospital urology specialists' f:m ratios were 0.257 (499 female vs. 1944 male) for 2015, 0.195 for 2010, 0.133 for 2005 and 0.12 for 2000. The career advancement (BG) index was 0.0007 for 2000, 0,0005 for 2005, 0.094 for 2010 and 0.073 for 2015. The decrease from 2010 to 2015 was due to an increase in the f:m ratio of hospital urologists and female medical students.
CONCLUSION: The BG index clearly illustrated that there is an urgent need for special academic career funding programs to counteract gender problems in urology. The BG index has been shown to be an excellent tool to assess female academic career options and will be very helpful to assess and document positive or negative changes in the next decades.
Background: Immigration has a strong impact on the development of health systems, medicine and science worldwide. Therefore, this article provides a descriptive study on the overall research output.
Methods: Utilizing the scientific database Web of Science, data research was performed. The gathered bibliometric data was analyzed using the established platform NewQIS, a benchmarking system to visualize research quantity and quality indices.
Findings: Between 1900 and 2016 a total of 6763 articles on immigration were retrieved and analyzed. 86 different countries participated in the publications. Quantitatively the United States followed by Canada and Spain were prominent regarding the article numbers. On comparing by additionally taking the population size into account, Israel followed by Sweden and Norway showed the highest performance. The main releasing journals are the Public Health Reports, the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health and Social Science & Medicine. Over the decades, an increasing number of Public, Environmental & Occupational Health articles can be recognized which finally forms the mainly used subject area.
Conclusion: Considerably increasing scientific work on immigration cannot only be explained by the general increase of scientific work but is also owed to the latest development with increased mobility, worldwide crises and the need of flight and migration. Especially countries with a good economic situation are highly affected by immigrants and prominent in their publication output on immigration, since the countries’ publication effort is connected with the appointed expenditures for research and development. Remarkable numbers of immigrants throughout Europe compel medical professionals to consider neglected diseases, requires the public health system to restructure itself and finally promotes science.
Background: Classical dance comprises gender specific movement tasks. There is a lack of studies which investigate work related traumatic injuries in terms of gender specific differences in detail.
Objective: To define gender related differences of occupational accidents.
Methods: Basis for the evaluation were occupational injuries of professional dancers from three (n = 785; f: n = 358, m: n = 427) state theatres.
Results: The incidence rate (0.36 per year) was higher in males (m: 0.45, f: 0.29). There were gender specific differences as to the localizations of injuries, particularly the spine region (m: 17.3%, f: 9.8%, p = 0.05) and ankle joint (m: 23.7%, f: 35.5%, p = 0.003). Compared to male dancers, females sustained more injuries resulting from extrinsic factors. Significant differences could specifically be observed with dance floors (m: 8.8%, f: 15.1%, p = 0.02). There were also significant gender differences observed with movement vocabulary.
Conclusion: The clearly defined gender specific movement activities in classical dance are reflected in occupational accidents sustained. Organisational structures as well as work environment represent a burden likewise to male and female dancers. The presented differences support the development of gender specific injury prevention measures.
(1) Background: Dance teachers (DT) are dependent on their functional body. Pain can hardly be avoided during the professional practice of dance. Pain can become so intense that it impairs, or even prevents, the professional practice. The aim of this study was to identify the determinants of pain intensity of the most severely affected body regions of DT in pain during the three-month period prior to the survey. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted by an online survey. A total of 166 DT participated in the study; 143 of the DT were in pain during the three-month period and were included in the analysis. Using multiple linear regression, the determinants of pain intensity were identified from population parameters, occupational data, pain localisation, and temporal pain course. (3) Results: Regions of the lower extremity and head/trunk regions were most frequently indicated as the body regions with the most severe pain. The multiple regression model generated with the factors “functional impairment”, “biomechanical exposure”, and “pain at rest” explains a statistically significant, moderate proportion of the variance in pain intensity (R2 = 0.22, F (3, 106) = 10.04, p < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: Intensity of pain in DT seems to be related to the physical demands of professional practice.
Objectives The following study analyses the influence of risk factors among the occupational group of truck drivers on postural control and body mass index (BMI).
Design Observational study.
Setting One motorway station close to several highways in Germany.
Participants 180 truck drivers (177 male/3 female), aged 21–65 years old, took part in this study.
Outcome measures Postural control was examined using a pressure plate. In order to examine the influence of body weight (BMI) and working years on postural control, subjects were divided into samples of five and three groups, respectively. Furthermore, it was evaluated whether the subjects suffered from back pain. For data analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used as the data were not normally distributed. Once the p value of the Kruskal-Wallis test was p≤0.05, the Conover-Iman comparison and afterwards the Bonferroni-Holm correction were used. The significance level was set at α ≤0.05.
Results Regarding the number of working years, a significant increase of frontal (p≤0.04) and sagittal (p≤0.001) sway were observed. The correlation of the five BMI groups with the number of working years demonstrates that an increase of the working years leads to an increase of BMI (p≤0.03). Furthermore, the majority of truck drivers participating in this study suffered from back pain (61.7%).
Conclusions BMI and musculoskeletal impairment are indicators of health risk factors. In this study, it is shown that an increasing number of working years and an increasing BMI lead to a decrease in frontal and sagittal postural sway. In addition, the number of working years correlates with body weight and back pain.
Objective: The influence of the jaw position on postural control, body posture, walking and running pattern has been reported in the literature. All these movements have in common that a relatively small, but well controlled muscle activation is required. The induced effects on motor output through changed jaw positions have been small. Therefore, it has been questioned if it could still be observed in maximal muscle activation.
Method: Twenty-three healthy, mid age recreational runners (mean age = 34.0 ± 10.3 years) participated in this study. Three different jump tests (squat jump, counter movement jump, and drop jumps from four different heights) and three maximal strength tests (trunk flexion and extension, leg press of the right and left leg) were conducted. Four different dental occlusion conditions and an additional familiarization condition were tested. Subjects performed the tests on different days for which the four occlusion conditions were randomly changed.
Results: No familiarization effect was found. Occlusion conditions with a relaxation position and with a myocentric condylar position showed significantly higher values for several tests compared to the neutral condition and the maximal occlusion position. Significance was found in the squat jump, countermovement jump, the drop jump from 32cm and 40cm, trunk extension, leg press force and rate of force development. The effect due to the splint conditions is an improvement between 3% and 12% (min and max). No influence of the jaw position on symmetry or balance between extension and flexion muscle was found.
Conclusion: An influence of occlusion splints on rate of force development (RFD) and maximal strength tests could be confirmed. A small, but consistent increase in the performance parameters could be measured. The influence of the occlusion condition is most likely small compared to other influences as for example training status, age, gender and circadian rhythm.
Fit to play : posture and seating position analysis with professional musicians - a study protocol
(2017)
Background: Musical performance-associated musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are a common health problem among professional musicians. Considering the manifold consequences arising for the musicians, they can be seen as a threat for their professional activity. String players are the most affected group of musicians in this matter. Faults in upper body posture while playing the instrument, causing un-ergonomic static strain on the back and unergonomic limp-movements, are a main reason for musculoskeletal disorders and pain syndromes.
Methods: A total of 66 professional musicians, divided into three groups, are measured.
The division is performed by average duration of performance, intensity of daily exercise and professional experience. Video raster stereography, a three-dimensional analysis of the body posture, is used to analyse the instrument-specific posture. Furthermore the pressure distribution during seating is analysed. Measurements are performed because the musician is sitting on varying music chairs differing in structure and/or construction of the seating surface. The measurements take place in habitual seating position as well as during playing the instrument.
Results: To analyse the influence of different chairs, ANOVA for repeated measurements or Friedman-test is used, depending on normality assumptions. Comparison of posture between amateur musicians, students, and professional orchestral musicians is carried out the non-parametric Jonckheere-Terpstra-test.
Conclusions: Our method attempts to give the musicians indications for the right music chair choice by analyzing the chair concepts, so that thereby preemptively MSD can be reduced or prevented.
Objective: A high unilateral load to the musculoskeletal system is specific for formation dance. Due to the lack of data the aim of this study was the side-related (right – left) analysis of strength- and balance capability subject to injuries, gender and performance standards.
Methods: N = 51 dancers (m: n = 24, f: m = 27) of two performance levels participated in this cross-sectional study. Double-sided tests of the isometric maximal strength of relevant muscle groups and the balance capability were carried out. The tests were supplemented by a self report questionnaire.
Results: Tests of the isometric maximal strength in the elite performance level showed significant differences between either side of the body. As to the balance capability, no significant side-related differences could be found in. Correlations between the strength capability and the injuries could be observed in either group.
Conclusion: The significant strength differences are presumably caused by the right-sided load in the dance-specific movements. The cautious conclusion that movement patterns challenge the stability of either side of the body likewise may be allowed. The increased injury frequency at the muscularly stronger side of the body primarily results from an overload. An additive muscular training should be considered as a preventive measure.
Background: Dentists are at a higher risk of suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) than the general population. However, the latest study investigating MSD in the dental profession in Germany was published about 20 years ago. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the current prevalence of MSD in dentists and dental students in Germany. Methods: The final study size contained 450 (287 f/163 m) subjects of different areas of specialization. The age of the participants ranged from 23 to 75 years. The questionnaire consisted of a modified version of the Nordic Questionnaire, work-related questions from the latest questionnaire of German dentists, typical medical conditions and self-developed questions. Results: The overall prevalence showed that dentists suffered frequently from MSD (seven days: 65.6%, twelve months: 92%, lifetime: 95.8%). The most affected body regions included the neck (42.7%–70.9%–78.4%), shoulders (29.8%–55.6%–66.2%) and lower back (22.9%–45.8%–58.7%). Overall, female participants stated that they suffered from pain significantly more frequently, especially in the neck, shoulders and upper back. Conclusion: The prevalence of MSD among dentists, especially in the neck, shoulder and back area, was significantly higher than in the general population. In addition, women suffered more frequently from MSD than men in almost all body regions.