FYP Proposal Presentation

“An EMG study of different

rubber tapper tools”

What is Electromyography ?

Study of the electro-physiological characteristics of

muscles during contraction and rest.

(Mills,K.R , The basics of Electromyography 2005 , p32)

Measures the action potentional’s of the nerves.

Visual depiction of the firing rates in the form of a

graph on a pc monitor.

The device is called an Electromyograph [EMG]

The recording is called an Electromyogram.

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How is it performed ?

Electrodes are either inserted or attached to

the surface of muscles to record the firing

rates which are interfaced with an

electromyograph such as Powerlab® from

ADInstruments® .

The weak signals are amplified and then

produced on a monitor using a chart software.

The electromyograph processes the signals so

that it can be visualized on the pc monitor.

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Why is it performed ?

Clinical Application

– To determine integrity of nerves and their

pathways.

– To distinguish between muscular or neural

damage.

– Sports Science.

Ergonomic Application

– As in the case of this experiment.

– To determine exactly how much stress is put on

which muscle groups while performing a task.

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rubber tapper tools” 5

A Sample Electromyogram

•Peaks Represent

muscular activity.

•There amplitude

and frequency

determine the

force of the

contraction.

•When the muscle

is at rest there

will be no peaks

in the graph.Adapted from (Mills,K.R , The basics of Electromyography

2005 , p33 , Fig 1)



Mechanism of Muscular Contractions

Nerves responsible for muscular contraction are called motor neurons.

Those muscles which one particular nerve innervates is termed as a motor unit.

When a motor unit is activated via an action potential , it triggers a sequence of stages that cause the muscular fibers to contract.

The electromyograph records this electrical activity.

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What is Ergonomics ?

The process of fitting the job to the worker

instead of worker to the job.

(Kominski.L , “Workplace Ergonomics” ,Labor Occupational Safety & Health

Program, UCLA website)

Matching the design of the tools , controls

and equipments to the safety needs of the

workers. (Kominski.L , “Workplace Ergonomics” ,Labor Occupational Safety & Health

Program, UCLA website)

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Malaysian Rubber Industry

• Malaysia is still one of the largest producers on

natural rubber in the world with a steady growth

in its demand.

• Properties of natural rubber outweigh its

synthetic form fuelling its enormous industrial

need.

• There are more than 100,000 rubber tappers who

actively work in the huge rubber plantations

throughout Malaysia. (Arutchelvan,S ,2003 “Malaysian Plantation Workers and judicial recourse”

V34, p1)

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Overview of rubber tapping(extracting) process

Rubber is extracted from rubber trees

(Hevea Brasilensis) (Tapping Management in Rubber , Open

Academy for Philippine Agriculture , Web Article).

The rubber tapper makes an appropriate

excision on the bark of the tree to collect

the latex for processing into rubber.

Various methods exist today for the process

of tapping but the manual process is still

the most economic and commonly used.

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Half Spiral method of Rubber tapping still being used today (adapted from Rubber Tapping ,

http://www.bio.ilstu.edu/armstrong/syllabi/rubber/rubtree2.htm )



Commonly Used Rubber Tapping Tools

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These are the commonly used rubber tapping tools used today by rubber tappers ,

The different designs are for whether a downward motion is being used or an

upward motion is being used to make the excisions in the trees.

(Adapted from Rubber tapping Knives ,

http://www.alibaba.com/catalogs/142003/Hand_Tools.html)



Risk Factors associated with Rubber

Tapper Workers

Manual rubber tapping is a very repetitive

process in which the tappers will excise

200 to 300 trees in a single day. (Tapping Management

in Rubber , Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture , Web Article)

Run the risk of developing Carpal Tunnel

Syndrome(CTS) due to repetitive stress on

the wrist.

Bending of the wrist termed as either ulnar

or radial deviation will lead to development

of CTS and other wrist problems.

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)

• Repetitive strain injury. (Smith , E , “Its All in the wrist”, 2005 , Vol 7

No 1)

• Cumulative Traumatic Disorders (CTD’s)

• Impairment of motor and sensory function of the median nerve as it traverses the carpal tunnel. (Browning.P , “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome” E-Medicine Journal,Web Article)

– Caused due to the swelling of the nerve.

– Extrinsic compression by the various surrounding structures.

• Leads to pain , numbness , loss of sensation in the palms and wrist.

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CTS Characteristics

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(Image Retrieved from Google Image Search – Key Word “Carpal Tunnel

Syndrome Illustration”)



Research Objectives

1. A statistical comparative study of the electromyograms obtained from the experiment.

2. To determine which tools offers the least amount of strain and injury by determining the angle of deviation of the wrist.

3. To obtain data that would be used in the development of more ergonomically designed rubber tapping tools.

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Research Methodology

1. Simulation of actual rubber tapping process on

an object that possesses characteristics similar

to the tree.

2. EMG electrodes will be placed on the

belly(fleshy contractile part of the muscle) of

the muscles which have been identified to be

involved during the rubber tapping process.

3. Study would be conducted on 10 Males and 10

Females simulating the extraction process.

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(Image generated using Adobe Illustrator CS3©)



Data Analysis

Use of Root Mean Square (RMS) Formula

to translate the graphical data into

numerical form

– A routine that has to be programmed into the

chart software.

– Or Use of Excel or SPSS to run the Analysis

– RMS is a statistical measure of the magnitude

of a varying quantity with positive or negative

values such as a wave (Root Mean Square 2007, Wikipedia Free

Encyclopedia)

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Proposed Schedule

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Week # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

July August September October

Literature

review

[5 weeks]

Proposal

Writing

[4 weeks]

Experiment-

aion

[5 weeks]

Result

Analysis

[5 weeks]

Thesis

Preparation

[8 weeks]



Significance of the Research

To enhance the occupational safety of

rubber tapper workers.

The number of rubber tappers in Malaysia

are in excess of 100,000. (Arutchelvan,S ,2003 “Malaysian

Plantation Workers and judicial recourse” V34, p1)

To Determine which tools being marketed

today is more ergonomically efficient.

Make recommendations towards the design

of more ergonomic tapping tools.

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FYP Proposal Presentation

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