This project addresses priority areas 7 and 13 of the National Occupational Research Agenda. Injuries to farm children are unique because of the types of tasks involved, the developmental issues regarding the etiology of the injury, and the potentially severe consequences of the injury. Parents often begin to involve their children in agriculture by assigning them farm maintenance and livestock feeding activities because they are deemed safer than the more complex and hazardous operation of tractors and field equipment or having direct contact with livestock. These tasks may require children to carry loads that are proportionally large and/or heavy and are often unilaterally loaded. There are currently no data available to help parents gage the risks associated with these tasks or to identify appropriate carrying procedures or limits based on the developmental level of their children. This project addresses the following research questions: (1) Does a five-gallon bucket (the container most commonly used in agricultural work settings) inappropriately force children to alter posture to accommodate the dimensions of the bucket? (2) Does this postural adjustment adversely affect the loading on upper extremity joints and the spine? (3) Will joint loading be lower using a smaller container (one-gallon) that minimizes postural adjustments? and (4) Will joint loading and postural adjustment be decreased when a load is distributed bilaterally in smaller dimension containers (i.e., carrying a bucket in each hand)? The goal of this project is to investigate potential risk factors for farm children performing occupational carrying tasks to make recommendations regarding the loading (unilateral vs. bilateral) and the container size used for performing these tasks. In support of this goal, the following objectives have been established: (1) recruit subjects (both male and female) representative of rural midwestern farm youth; (2) collect anthropometric, kinematic, and kinetic data from the subjects following stablished experimental protocols; (3) reduce data for further analysis by calculating 3-dimensional segment orientations and joint angles, differentiating the angles to obtain angular velocities and accelerations; (4) combine the kinetic, anthropometric and kinematic information to calculate joint moments, reaction forces and joint powers using a computer model developed previously in the Iowa State Biomechanics Laboratory; (5) analyze joint moments and powers for carrying tasks using a large and small container with unilateral loading, and using small containers with bilateral loading; (6) develop recommendations addressing the loading condition and the container size for ccupational carrying tasks performed by youth; (7) develop educational materials and curriculum based on the recommendations targeting farm parents, farm youth, and safety educators; and (8) disseminate the results of the project.
| Gillette, Jason C; Stevermer, Catherine A; Miller, Ross H et al. (2012) Lower extremity joint moments during carrying tasks in children. J Appl Biomech 28:156-64 |
| Gillette, Jason C; Stevermer, Catherine A; Miller, Ross H et al. (2010) The effects of age and type of carrying task on lower extremity kinematics. Ergonomics 53:355-64 |
| Gillette, Jason C; Stevermer, Catherine A; Meardon, Stacey A et al. (2009) Upper extremity and lower back moments during carrying tasks in farm children. J Appl Biomech 25:149-55 |
