Elsevier

Applied Ergonomics

Volume 30, Issue 5, October 1999, Pages 435-442
Applied Ergonomics

Physical work load in physical education teachers

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-6870(98)00048-9Get rights and content

Abstract

The main objective was to measure and quantify exposure to physical work load in physical education teachers. A further aim was to establish the reproducibility of a three-week test–retest interval of self-reported physical load and to evaluate the agreement between registered and self-rated physical load. Thirty teachers, both female and male, volunteered to participate in the study. The physical load on the lower extremities, as well as the back and the cardio-vascular strain was recorded during one working day. The results indicate that the physical work load in this occupational group is considerable due to the load on the lower extremities. The demands of the cardio-vascular system are also relatively high in comparison to other occupational groups. The teachers could assess their activity quite well regarding heavy lifting and time spent sitting.

References (0)

Cited by (36)

  • Cardiovascular load assessment in the workplace: A systematic review

    2023, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
  • Energy expenditure at work in physical education teachers

    2015, Applied Ergonomics
    Citation Excerpt :

    Sandmark et al. (1999) analyzed their work tasks by direct observation. High physical load may be caused by equipment handling, by supporting the load of students' weight in certain situations, by prolonged standing, stress and repetitive or sudden movements (Sandmark et al., 1999). Not only do they have to lift students in parades for gymnastics or psychomotor learning, often in awkward and difficult positions, but they are also exposed to additional horizontal shear forces.

  • The burden of esthetic labor on front-line employees in hospitality industry

    2013, International Journal of Hospitality Management
    Citation Excerpt :

    For example, when employees could not meet the esthetic requirement, they would cause criticism from their supervisor, and thus feel unhappy inside, even reject to perform esthetic labor. The third form of psychological burden is physical strain (Schwarzer and Leppin, 1989), which means employees continually maintain fixed postures and movements, or make their heart rate faster over an entire working day (Sandmark et al., 1999). For example, when serving customer, employees have to continually maintain registrations of postures and movements for a long time, which may cause physical strain to employees.

  • Occupational health problems and injuries among Quebec's physical educators

    2007, Applied Ergonomics
    Citation Excerpt :

    Åstrand et al. (1997) demonstrated to what extent the occupation of PEs contributes to the maintenance of their aerobic capacity. Indeed, it was observed that PE teachers considered themselves as being physically fit (Netz and Raviv, 2002) and healthy (Sandmark et al., 1999). Similarly, the slowest decline of physical fitness has also been observed in municipal employees vs. those with physically low workload over a period of 16 years (Savinainen et al., 2004).

  • Medium- and long-term reproducibility of self-reported exposure to physical ergonomics factors at work

    2007, Applied Ergonomics
    Citation Excerpt :

    Also, the majority of the results from these studies indicated a higher reproducibility for whole-body exposures, such as sitting, perceived exertion and whole-body vibration. Exposure ratings concerning specific body regions, as for hands above shoulders, repetitive movements and hand vibration, are more heterogeneous in the literature but they would seem to have poor or moderate reliability (Leijon et al., 2002; Sandmark et al., 1999; Torgén et al., 1997; Wiktorin et al., 1996b). Torgén et al. (1997), who analyzed 1-year reproducibility in a Swedish population-based study, observed higher agreement than we found for most of the exposures assessed by both studies, such as physical effort, lifting, whole-body and hand vibration.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text