Ergonomic Risk Assessment of Developing Musculoskeletal Disorders in Workers with the Microsoft Kinect: TRACK TMS

Background

Routine ergonomic assessment of postures and gestures in the workplace are mostly conducted by visual observations, either direct or based on video recordings. Nowadays, low-cost three-dimensional cameras like Microsoft Kinect offers the possibility of recording the full kinematics of workers in a non-intrusive way, providing a more precise, and reliable assessment of their motor strategies.

Methods

We have developed a tracking application using the Kinect SDK for Windows in C?, allowing the simultaneous recording of the three-dimensional coordinates of all the body points tracked by the Microsoft Kinect at a sampling frequency of 30 Hz and an expected accuracy of 3 cm. Measurements are performed on violinists, whose playing is representative of a work situation involving repeated gestures and postures that can be described as non-ergonomic.

Results

Microsoft Kinect can be efficiently used to quantify the motion performed by the violinists. Playing strategies can even be noticed despite the low-cost nature of the sensor used.

Conclusion

Low-cost three-dimensional cameras can be a useful aid in ergonomic risk assessment of developing musculoskeletal disorders and give the example of the repetition of movements and postural items included in the OCRA checklist, whose scoring can be facilitated by such a device.