A survey of repetitiveness assessment methodologies for hand-intensive tasks

Abstract

Various methodologies have been applied in assessing the repetitiveness of a hand-intensive task at the workplace. Reviewing 31 papers (published between 1997 and 2002) which investigated tasks involving the upper extremities, the present study surveyed measures, measurement methods, and analysis techniques of repetitiveness assessment for hand-intensive tasks. The repetitiveness measures were classified in terms of dimensional type (cycle time and frequency) and analysis scope, and then the papers were summarized according to the measure classification system. It was found that, among the studies, frequency measures were 4.7 times more frequently used than cycle time measures and hand/wrist movement frequency was most frequently used. Lastly, the measurement methods were grouped into objective and subjective ones, and the analysis techniques were classified into statistical and spectral ones. It was identified that electrogoniometer, video system, and visual analog scale were more frequently employed in repetitiveness measurement.