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THE ROLE OF OBESITY IN PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS, PROPRIOCEPTION, AND BALANCE DURING REPETITIVE MANUAL MATERIAL HANDLING TASKS
Location: West Ballroom
Mentor: Dr. Francesco Travascio
Manual laborers are prone to fatigue-related incidents, increasing the risk of balance disturbances and falls. Our previous work showed that obese individuals can reach critical fatigue levels during repetitive lifting, as defined by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Therefore, assessing fatigue levels during manual handling activities beyond lifting is crucial to determine if this body mass index (BMI) based pattern persists. Additionally, evaluating balance loss when physiological stress becomes critical will help quantify the increased fall risk for obese individuals. Carrying and pushing/pulling tasks were performed by 30 participants, with weights calculated using the Liberty Mutual Equations to meet NIOSH criteria. Balance tests were conducted before and after each task. A two-way ANOVA compared energy expenditure rate (EER) across BMI classifications and sex, while a mixed-effects model analyzed the effects of EER, BMI, and sex on balance and proprioception tests. Results indicated a positive correlation between BMI and EER for both carrying (p = 0.003) and pushing/pulling (p = 0.013). In the mixed-effects model, BMI (p = 0.032) and EER (p = 0.037) were positively correlated with knee proprioception loss, whereas EER was negatively correlated with balance (p = 0.020). These findings confirm that obese individuals face a critical fatigues levels and impaired proprioception and balance during repetitive handling tasks.
