Physical risk factors for neck pain among oculoplastic surgeons

摘要

Over 80% of doctors, who require loupe (telescopes mounted to glasses) magnification to operate, have neck pain. Despite this known occupational risk, this population has largely been ignored. There are no objective studies that define the biomechanical etiology of cervical musculoskeletal disorders in this population. The purpose of this study was to identify the physical risk factors for cervical spine disorders associated with surgical tasks performed using loupes. Real-time 3D head-neck kinematic data were recorded from three oculoplastic surgeons while they performed surgeries ("in the field") with surgical loupes. For each surgeon, data were collected during 12 (8 superficial and 4 deep) surgeries. In general, independent of the type of surgeries, surgeons were found to work with non-neutral head-neck postures characterized by motion in flexion, bending, and rotation planes. On average cervical flexion, lateral bending, and rotation >30° was maintained for 29%, 6%, and 30% of the time, respectively. Among the two types of surgeries, superficial surgeries required working with higher cervical flexion, whereas, deep surgeries required relatively higher rotation and bending. The awkward postures frequently adopted by the surgeons could be the physical risk factors for the cervical spine disorders.