A University of Saskatchewan (USask) research study is underway into shoulder and ergonomic issues facing farmers.
The Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health at USask has been testing farmers, including more than three dozen at Ag in Motion last month.
Sara Sagen, a master's student in health science, said inertial measurement units (IMUs), an electronic device used to measure a body's motion, are being used on farmers as part of the study.
"They have three different angles that we will record: there's a gyroscope, a magnetometer, and an accelerometer. With these three angles, we can see what they're doing with their body within space. It's kind of like with your phone; just as your phone tracks your steps, that's exactly what it's doing. We are looking at range of motion ultimately and asking if there's a pain versus non-pain group, and comparing whether these individuals are lifting or pouring differently." explained Sagen.
Rotator cuff injuries are common among baseball pitchers due to the strain and repetitive motion. It’s the same for farmers, but over a much longer period due to repetitive movements and getting into awkward positions, like pouring a a seed bag into a seeder, said Sagen.
She said prevention is the key.
"We definitely preach taking care of your body, doing the stretching, doing some movements that are strength training exercises. Also, making sure that you're getting into more ergonomically-friendly positions - you not reaching over top of something to drill on whatever you're doing, or you're having your feet kind of exactly right where you're pouring so that your center of mass is right over top of the object you're working on."
Once the producer data is collected, Sagen said a report will be created that will compare pain and non-pain groups as well as tasks that put farmers in ergonomically-friendly positions versus those that don't and how the latter can be detrimental to shoulder health.
Her team is still looking for farmers to participate in the 20-minute shoulder and ergonomic test. Sagen can be reached via email at [email protected].
(With files from Neil Billinger, CJWW)
