Validation of a questionnaire for assessing physical work load.

Objectives: Reliable, valid, and compatible methods are required for exploring the complex interactive effects of psychosocial and physical stressors on complaints and disorders. An instrument for assessing physical work load that integrates information from a biomechanical model of lumbar load is presented and validated.

Methods: Four hundred and fifty-five people working in nursing homes for elderly people in Germany filled out the developed questionnaire 3 times within 1 year.

A procedure to determine the individually comfortable position of visual displays relative to the eyes.

In an intervention phase, 38 operators used four different imposed screen positions (near versus distant, high versus low) for a full working day to experience the advantages and disadvantages. Screens at about 66 cm induced more reported strain than screens at about 98 cm. When operators later freely selected their individually most comfortable screen position, individually different changes due to the intervention were observed: some subjects changed to shorter, others to longer viewing distances, some operators adjusted the screen lower, others higher.

Preferred position of visual displays relative to the eyes: a field study of visual strain and individual differences.

At office workplaces equipped with visual display units (VDU) that were adjustable to various positions relative to the eyes short and long viewing distances from the eyes to the screen were imposed (mean value of about 63 and 92 cm) at two levels of screen height so that the visual target was either at eye level or 18 cm below, on the average. The change from far to near viewing distance produced a larger increase in eyestrain when the VDUs were at eye level. High screens resulted in greater eyestrain than low screens, as shown by correlations over subjects.

The relationship between changing body height and growth related changes in maximal aerobic power.

In order to analyse the relationship between maximal aerobic power (VO2max) and height, body mass and lean body mass a multi-longitudinal survey was conducted on three different age groups of randomly selected children from a small Czech community. Beginning at the initial ages of 8, 12 and 16 years subjects were subsequently retested three times at 2-year intervals. At overlapping ages there were no differences in the various age groups between height and VO2max.