College Station, TX — Forestry workers could benefit from the use of exoskeletons that support their back and upper limbs, results of a recent study show.
A pair of researchers from Texas A&M University and Oregon State University used sensors on 10 forestry workers to determine what type of exoskeleton may help them. The workers, along with 12 other foresters, completed a survey that assessed how much they knew about exoskeletons, their level of acceptance, and their perceived barriers and risks of using the technology.
The results indicated that the workers experienced musculoskeletal pain in the neck, shoulders, lower back, wrists/forearms, knees, legs and feet/ankles.
“This finding suggests that back-support and upper-limb support exoskeletons may be suitable to the forestry industry,” study co-author Jeong Ho “Jay” Kim, an associate professor at Texas A&M, said in a press release. “Forestry is vitally important to our economy and our standard of living, but its workers pay a high price, with an injury rate that is 40% higher than the average of all other industries and fatality rates that are 20 to 30 times higher.”
The study was published in the International Journal of Forest Engineering.
