EFFECTS OF ROCK DRILLS ON OPERATORS

PART 3. JOINT AND MUSCLE PAIN, AND DEFORMITY OF BONE AND JOINT

Abstract

Vibration causes the injury to bones and joints. This paper describes the results obtained from the survey of the subjective symptoms of joint pain and muscle pain, the findings of radiographic observation of the views at the wrist, the elbow, the shoulder and the cervical vertebrae and the findings of the elbow joint views related to the grasping power.
The studies were carried out on the underground workmen in a certain metal mine.
The occurrence rates of complaints of joint pains and muscle pains were 46.9 and 36.7% respectively. The muscle pain had no relation with age and vibratory work experience, but the joint pain had some. These complaints had no relation with the period up to the first appearance. No marked difference of complaints was found among the groups of workmen by operation. However, they had the relation with the operating hour with rock drill per day. The joint pain appeared in the elbow most frequently, followed by the wrist. The muscle pain appeared in the forearm and the upper arm of the side of the hand operating the tools.
While the wrist, the shoulder and the cervical vertebra did not show the remarkable deformity, the elbow showed the remarkable deformity especially at the coronoid process and the articular surfaces. A parallel relationship was not obtained between the sub-jective elbow pain and the roentgenographic abnormal findings.
Workers whose grasping power was weak showed remarkable abnormal findings of elbow joint.