Bo Melin

Psychophysiological stress responses, muscle tension, and neck and shoulder pain among supermarket cashiers.

: This study examined psychological and physiological stress, as well as muscle tension and musculoskeletal symptoms, among 72 female supermarket cashiers. Stress levels were found to be significantly elevated at work, as reflected in the catecholamines, blood pressure, heart rate, electromyographic (EMG) activity, and self-reports. Fifty cashiers (70%) suffering from neck-shoulder pain (trapezius myalgia) were found to have higher EMG activity at work and reported more tension after work. Women who kept a diary for 1 week and reported more musculoskeletal pain (above the median) were older, had higher blood pressure, and reported more work stress and psychosomatic symptoms. The elevated stress levels at work are consistent with data from workers involved in other types of repetitive tasks and can be important for the high prevalence of neck and shoulder symptoms among the cashiers.

Surface EMG and psychophysiological stress reactions in women during repetitive work

Abstract In order to understand the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders associated with stressful work, it is important to explore the relationship between muscle activity and psychophysiological stress responses. The present real-life study examines surface trapezius electromyographic (sEMG) activity, heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of urinary catecholamines and salivary cortisol among 31 female employees working at supermarkets, where the prevalence of neck and shoulder disorders is high (60–70%). As expected, the results show that psychophysiological arousal was high during work. Significant correlations were found between self-reports indicating negative stress (stressed, exhausted, tense) and sEMG activity during work. No significant correlations were found between self-reports of positive reactions (stimulated, concentrated, happy) and sEMG activity. No associations were found between sEMG activity and pain or between negative stress ratings and pain. Objectively measured workload and physiological stress responses did not correlate significantly with sEMG activity. Thus, our data indicate that perceived negative stress may have a specific influence on muscle activity, which may be of importance for musculoskeletal disorders in jobs with low-to-moderate physical load and negative psychosocial factors.

Trapezius muscle activity, neck and shoulder pain, and subjective experiences during monotonous work in women

Abstract The electromyographic (EMG) activity patterns of 18 female supermarket employees reporting neck and shoulder pain were compared with those of 6 of their female colleagues reporting no pain when doing cash-register work. It was found that the EMG activity of the trapezius muscle tended to show a lack of low and high levels among pain subjects, and that the time the trapezius muscle was at rest was longer in the group reporting no pain. In the non-dominant side, the muscle rest time was significantly longer (Pu2009<u20090.05) in the group reporting no pain, and this group also showed a larger EMG activity difference between the dominant and non-dominant sides, indicating a less static bilateral muscle activation. Self-reports of negative experiences (stressed, exhausted and tense) were somewhat higher in the group reporting pain, while positive experiences during work (concentrated, stimulated and happy) appeared to be similar in the two groups of supermarket employees.

Psychological and physiological stress reactions of male and female assembly workers: a comparison between two different forms of work organization

Psychological and physiological stress responses of 36 male and 29 female assembly workers were examined during and after work at a car engine factory. Two different ways of organizing assembly work were compared, (1) a more traditional assembly line with fixed work stations organized as a chain and involving short repetitive work cycles and, (2) a new and more flexible work organization with small autonomous groups having greater opportunities to influence the pace and content of their work. Each worker was examined during and after a normal day at work on 2 consecutive days and, in order to obtain endocrine baseline data, during a corresponding work-free period at home. As expected, both female and male workers in the flexible organization reported significantly more variation, independence and abilities to learn new skills at work. Workers in both forms of work organization showed a significant increase in urinary epinephrine and norepinephrine during work compared to the work-free day at home. Males had significantly higher epinephrine and systolic blood pressure levels than females. Successive self-reports of tiredness increased significantly more at the assembly line compared to the flexible work organization. In keeping with this, systolic blood pressure, heart rate and epinephrine increased significantly during the work shift at the assembly line but not during work in the flexible organization. Catecholamine levels revealed that the subjects were able to unwind more rapidly after work in the flexible organization. This pattern was particularly pronounced for the female workers. In summary, the various stress indicators support the notion that the flexible work organization induces less stress than the assembly line and that the female workers were able to benefit most from this new form of work organization. Copyright

CATECHOLAMINE AND CORTISOL REACTION TO CHILDBIRTH

One way to study the stressfulness of childbirth is to examine the output of stress hormones. In this study, urinary catecholamines and salivary cortisol from 50 primiparous women were collected for 1 day during gestational weeks 37 to 39, hourly during labor and delivery, and 2 hr and 2 days postpartum. All three stress hormones increased statistically significantly from pregnancy to labor. The increase in adrenaline and cortisol was more than 500%, and the increase in noradrenaline was about 50%. After labor, the output decreased but not statistically significantly below the levels during late pregnancy. Hormone levels during late pregnancy, during labor and delivery, and during the period postpartum mostly did not correlate systematically. However, noradrenaline and adrenaline, as well as adrenaline and cortisol, were positively correlated during labor. After administration of epidural analgesia, there was a moderate but significant decrease in noradrenaline and adrenaline, whereas cortisol did not change. In conclusion, the results of this study support the assumption that childbirth is a very stressful event and that the stress responses vary considerably among women. The substantial increase of adrenaline and cortisol compared with noradrenaline indicates that mental stress is more dominant than physical stress during labor.

Comparison of neuroendocrine measurements under laboratory and naturalistic conditions

Urinary catecholamines and cortisol were measured in healthy nonsmoking white collar workers (14 male and 15 female managers, 15 male and 14 female clerical workers), aged 30-50 years, during a one-hour period of laboratory-induced stress comprising five tests and a Type A interview, and during a subsequent period of rest in the laboratory. Values were compared with data obtained four months earlier from the same subjects during a normal day at work (4 values) and during a work-free day at home (4 values). No significant group differences were found during rest in the laboratory. However, during laboratory-induced stress, female managers had the highest norepinephrine values, which contributed to significantly (p less than 0.01) higher values in women than in men. Correlations between absolute measurements from laboratory and naturalistic conditions were generally positive and reached significance in most cases. Correlations between reactivity measurements in the laboratory and at work (change from rest to stress and from home to work, respectively) were generally low, whereas correlations between reactivity at different times of the day were relatively high. The data suggest that generalizability of neuroendocrine reactivity from laboratory stress to real-life stress is low. However, in agreement with earlier experimental findings, absolute levels of catecholamine and cortisol excretion were consistent over conditions and time.

Blood pressure in healthy men and women under laboratory and naturalistic conditions

Thirty healthy nonsmoking men and 30 women underwent a laboratory reactivity assessment with systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) recorded at rest and during behavioral (mirror image tracing, mental arithmetic, color word conflict task and a semistructured Type A interview), and physical tasks (isometric exercise and the cold pressor test). Causal SBP and DBP were measured in a physicians clinic. Four months earlier SBP, DBP and HR had been monitored during a day at work and a day at home. Readings obtained in the clinic, at rest and during stress in the laboratory were related to real-life levels, reactivity (work-home difference) and variability. For men level of cardiovascular activation at rest and during all stressors in the laboratory correlated with levels at work and at home. The best laboratory/real-life relation was observed for SBP. Systolic blood pressure levels during stress correlated with the work-home difference. Systolic blood pressure reactivity (laboratory stress levels - rest levels) to most behavioral tasks correlated with SBP levels at work and home. Daily variability and reactivity correlated with SBP reactivity to mental arithmetic and the color word conflict task. For women, levels of SBP and HR at rest and during all stressors correlated with SBP and HR at work and at home. The best laboratory/real-life relation for women was observed for HR reactivity. Casual BP in the clinic correlated with work blood pressure but generally not with daily reactivity or variability. We conclude that BP and HR levels measured in the laboratory generalizes to real life BP and HR in both men and women and also to real life SBP reactivity in men. Laboratory induced SBP reactivity also shows a weak relation to real life SBP levels, variability and reactivity in men.

Blood lipids as related to cardiovascular and neuroendocrine functions under different conditions in healthy males and females

Correlations were calculated between, on the one hand, total serum cholesterol, low-density (LDL) and high-density (HDL) lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, and, on the other hand, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), urinary epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol in 30 healthy males and 30 healthy females, aged 30-50. The cardiovascular and neuroendocrine measurements were obtained under different real-life and laboratory conditions. The most striking finding was that, in men, but not in women, total serum cholesterol was significantly positively correlated with SBP in all conditions (LDL and HDL cholesterol followed the same pattern). In women, but not in men, epinephrine and norepinephrine during laboratory-induced mental stress were significantly positively correlated with total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides.

Effects of Thematically Relevant Visual Stimuli in Raynaud's Disease

Abstract During evolution, peripheral vasoconstriction has been a necessary response to redistribute blood from the peripheral areas of the body to more central organs in order to keep body temperature stable in cold climate. However, patients suffering from primary Raynaud disease respond to cold climate with elevated peripheral attacks of vasoconstriction. In the present experiment, ten females who meet the criteria of the primary form of Raynauds disease (RD) and 10 females (matched for age) without peripheral symptoms were individually exposed to four slides (two associated with warmness and two with coldness) in balanced order. Each slide was presented during two minutes after a two minute initial period of relaxation. Digital temperature (accuracy of 0.1 °C) of the surface of the skin on the most affected finger of the RD subjects (and corresponding finger in the control group) was recoded during all conditions as an indirect measure of peripheral blood flow. As expected, results show a significant...

Behandling av perifer vasospasm

Abstract Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att i en kontrollerad studie prova en ny metod for behandling av perifer vasospasm. Utgangspunkten var att den “naturliga” lanken som finns mellan kyla och vaso-konstriktion ar starkare for manniskor med vaso-spasmer an vad som ar normalt. Behandlingen innebar forsok till att forsvaga denna lank genom att exponera kroppen for kyla och samtidigt exponera de for vasospasm kansliga kroppsdelarna for varme i 43-gradigt vatten och pa sa satt astadkomma vasodilation. Detta upprepades tio ganger under en fjortondagarsperiod. En placebo-grupp fick exakt samma behandling med den skillnaden att temperaturen i vattnet for dem var 23 grader. Placebo-gruppen anvandes ocksa som cross-over. Matningar av temperaturfall mattes fore och efter respektive behandling och gav vid handen signifikanta skillnader for behandlingsgruppen medan placebogruppens temperaturfall var oforandrat. Under behandlingens gang mattes forvantan pa behandling; inga skillnader forelag mellan grupperna. E...