PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Notes of discomfort: Study keys in on trends in marching band members' pain

Notes of discomfort: Study keys in on trends in marching band members' pain
2021-02-09
(Press-News.org) CORVALLIS, Ore. - Marching band members in leadership roles are more likely to feel discomfort in the neck and upper back than their less experienced bandmates, who in turn are more susceptible to left-hand pain and cognitive strain, a new study by Oregon State University suggests.

The findings also showed that gender had no bearing on how much discomfort a musician felt or the band member's perception of workload.

"The study really seems to indicate that a player's level of experience and role within the band are what drive how much discomfort they feel," said industrial engineer and ergonomics researcher Xinhui Zhu. "This is one of the first looks at college band members' susceptibility to musculoskeletal disorders. More research needs to be done to confirm trends in the data and provide more factors to compare, such as instrument type, but this is an important early step."

Findings were published in the journal Work.

While pleasing to both the performer and audience, playing a musical instrument is associated with the development of a range of potentially debilitating musculoskeletal disorders such as sprains, strains and arthritis, often abbreviated to MSDs; moreover, playing in front of a crowd has been to shown to increase musicians' stress and anxiety levels.

"Developing an MSD can have a huge impact on a person's life," said study co-author Robyn Wells, an OSU Honors College graduate who works as a mechanical design engineer at Sound Devices in Madison, Wisconsin. "You can end up with pain that restricts your ability to work or participate in physical events. Any task that requires the same movement again and again is a potential cause of an MSD."

Earlier studies, the researchers say, have shown that either prolonged playing over many years or intensive playing in as little as a week can lead to musculoskeletal discomfort, joint flexibility problems, a decline in playing ability or a combination of all of those. Additionally, marching band members' physical stress is high simply because they are marching.

"The risk of developing MSDs among marching band players in college settings is high," said Zhu, a former OSU College of Engineering faculty member and now an independent ergonomics consultant. "Musicians, who are also full-time students, participate in long practices, and for band players, game day is a nine-hour commitment. They carry a wide range of instruments in terms of shape, size, weight and playing positions. But to date there has not been much research about the factors that contribute to MSDs among college players."

To help close that knowledge gap, Zhu and Wells gave 70 members of the Oregon State University marching band four different surveys before and after a football game day in September 2017. The players were categorized by gender, experience level (novice or experienced) and role (leader or non-leader). Leaders, who are typically older and have been playing longer than non-leaders, are responsible for their section of the band, in charge of teaching them the songs and everything that goes into the performance.

"The only statistically significant difference of discomfort found between the two experience levels was the left hand," Zhu said. "Novice players had significantly more discomfort than experienced players within this body part. Both groups had relatively high discomfort in the neck, shoulders, back and feet. Leaders had higher neck discomfort and upper back discomfort than non-leaders and reported an overall higher workload."

The research did not reveal reasons for the novices' left hand pain, though one possible explanation is that novices are unaccustomed to holding their instruments for an entire day as most high school band performances are shorter.

Novices and leaders alike, musicians need to be warned about the potential for small discomforts leading to musculoskeletal disease, Wells said, and designers and manufacturers of accessories like harnesses and neck straps may need to alter their products in the name of MSD prevention.

"The accessories apply a lot of stress on the neck and upper back as shown in the results of this study," she said. "This research also has broader implications, extending to any job in which someone is working long hours with awkward postures while carrying and picking up heavy objects and executing mentally demanding tasks. Through this study and others like it, new designs can be developed to help prevent MSDs."

INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Notes of discomfort: Study keys in on trends in marching band members' pain

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New "molecular" tool helps shed light on individual synapses in brain cells

New molecular tool helps shed light on individual synapses in brain cells
2021-02-09
Neurons are the primary cells of the nervous system, and the signals that are transmitted between them are responsible for all our actions and our cognitive ability. In particular, learning and memory are believed to be associated with a process called "long-term potentiation," which is the strengthening of connections between specific neurons via continued signal transmission through "synapses" (small gaps between neurons). Long-term potentiation can change the connection between neurons via synapses--by changing their size and composition. Understanding ...

Commodity farming accelerating climate change in the Amazon rainforest

Commodity farming accelerating climate change in the Amazon rainforest
2021-02-09
Researchers report that large-scale commercial farms on deforested land in the southern Amazon result in higher temperature increases and less rainfall than small-scale farms. Deforestation has converted swaths of land in the southern Amazon region from rainforest to farmland. The uses of the deforested land are diverse, and activities can range from small-scale farming in rural settlements to large-scale commodity agriculture. Commercial farms in the Southern Amazon can reach hundreds of thousands of hectares in area, exporting millions of tons in grains and beef every year. Eduardo Maeda from the University of Helsinki and colleagues used satellite data to compare areas dominated by different land uses and farm sizes to evaluate their impacts on ...

From trash to treasure: Silicon waste finds new use in Li-ion batteries

From trash to treasure: Silicon waste finds new use in Li-ion batteries
2021-02-09
Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in various mobile electronics. Concerns of global warming and climate change have recently boosted the demand for LIBs in electric vehicles and solar photovoltaic output smoothing. Si has been studied as an active material with a high theoretical capacity of 3578 mAh/g, which is around ten times higher than that of graphite (372 mAh/g). Now, a team of researchers at Osaka University has used flake-shaped Si nanopowder wrapped by ultrathin graphite sheets (GSs) to fabricate LIB electrodes with high areal capacity and current density. Generally ...

High greenhouse gas emissions from Siberian Inland Waters

High greenhouse gas emissions from Siberian Inland Waters
2021-02-09
Rivers and lakes at high latitudes are considered to be major sources for greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, but these losses are poorly constrained. In a study published in Nature Communications, Umeå University researchers and collaborators quantify carbon emissions from rivers and lakes across Western Siberia, finding that emission are high and exceed carbon export to the Arctic Ocean. High latitude regions play a key role in the global carbon cycle and climate system. An important question is the degree of mobilization and atmospheric release of vast soil carbon stocks, partly stored in permafrost, with amplified warming of these regions. A fraction of this carbon is exported to inland waters and emitted to the atmosphere, yet these ...

New insights put a freeze on the mechanisms for safely cryopreserving biological materials

New insights put a freeze on the mechanisms for safely cryopreserving biological materials
2021-02-09
Cryopreservation involves preserving biological materials, such as cells, tissues, and organs, at ultra-low temperatures so that they can be revived and used at a later date. To achieve cryopreservation such that the preserved materials are not damaged, scientists use various chemicals called cryoprotectants, which facilitate the freezing process. Unfortunately, many of the existing cryoprotective agents have major limitations. For example, dimethyl sulfoxide is useful for cryopreserving red blood cells, but it is also toxic to the cells. To overcome these limitations, researchers at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) and Japan's RIKEN have experimented with a class of chemicals known as polyampholytes, identifying one ...

Clear-sky detection methods in a highly polluted region still need further improvements

Clear-sky detection methods in a highly polluted region still need further improvements
2021-02-09
In research on solar energy and climatology, "clear sky" or "cloudless" conditions are very important. For instance, the number of clear-sky days (number of days having an average cloud cover less than 10%) is a key parameter of solar resource assessments. The instantaneous surface irradiance is highly affected by cloud variations, based on which clear-sky detection (CSD) methods can be developed. However, a general tendency in common among all CSD methods is the detection accuracy deteriorates when aerosol loading increases. "The lack of accurate clear-sky detection data makes it difficult to assess existing clear-sky detection methods in polluted areas," explains Liu Mengqi, a PhD student from the group of Prof. Xiang'ao Xia at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese ...

A 'skeletal age' calculator to predict bone fracture risk

2021-02-09
Researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have developed a computational model to calculate 'skeletal age', a personalised estimate of an individual's risk of bone fracture and premature death. The skeletal age calculator, which will be accessible to doctors and health professionals, aims to better identify those at risk of a first bone fracture and subsequent fractures, and also estimates how fractures impact life expectancy. Osteoporosis, a disease which reduces bone strength and increases bone fracture risk, is a major national health issue and estimated to affect over 900,000 Australians. ...

How cells recycle the machinery that drives their motility?

How cells recycle the machinery that drives their motility?
2021-02-09
Research groups at University of Helsinki and Institut Jacques Monod, Paris, discovered a new molecular mechanism that promotes cell migration. The discovery sheds light on the mechanisms that drive uncontrolled movement of cancer cells, and also revises the 'text book view' of cell migration. The ability of cells to move within our bodies is critical in wound healing, as well as for immune cells to patrol in our tissues to hunt bacterial and viral pathogens. On the flip-side, uncontrolled movement of cells is a hallmark of cancer invasion and metastasis. The machinery that drives cell migration is a complex network of dynamic filaments composed of a protein actin. Actin exists in monomeric form, but ...

Collapsed glaciers increase third pole uncertainties: Downstream lakes may merge within a decade

Collapsed glaciers increase third pole uncertainties: Downstream lakes may merge within a decade
2021-02-09
Glaciers are not only melting, but also collapsing in the Third Pole region. In 2016, two glaciers in the western Third Pole's Aru Mountains collapsed, one after another. The first collapse caused nine human casualties and the loss of hundreds of livestock. However, that may not be the end of the catastrophe. According to a study recently published in The Cryosphere, meltwater from ice avalanches has been filling downstream lakes in a way that may cause previously separated lakes to merge within the next decade, thus disrupting the function of ecosystems in the region. "The collapse of Aru glaciers has both short-term and long-term impacts on downstream lakes," said Dr. LEI Yanbin, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research ...

Samara Polytech chemists simplify crystal structures

Samara Polytech chemists simplify crystal structures
2021-02-09
Science always strives to replace complex natural objects and phenomena with simpler models. Scientists of Samara Center for Theoretical Materials Science (SCTMS) of Samara Polytech have developed methods to simplify the crystal structure of a substance to obtain chemically important knowledge. The main approaches are described in the article published in the Structural Chemistry journal IF 2.081 (doi:10.1007/s11224-020-01724-4). "The main goal of simplifying any crystal structure is to understand the features of its structure and properties, and the simplification ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Day-long conference addresses difficult to diagnose lung disease

First-ever cardiogenic shock academy features simulation lab

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

[Press-News.org] Notes of discomfort: Study keys in on trends in marching band members' pain