Effects of horizontal console position on operator muscular stress during abdominal ultrasonic diagnosis

Ultrasound examinations may require sonographers to adopt unnatural postures, which can lead to musculoskeletal disorders. We previously assessed the effect of a vertical operation panel on muscular stress. In this study, we focused on the horizontal positioning of the control panel of a diagnostic ultrasound system to quantitatively assess the influence of work plane position on musculoskeletal stress during scanning. Five subjects were asked to perform a simulated scanning task that involved touching five points on the control panel, with the work plane set at different positions in space. Electromyograms of each part of the body and wrist joint angles indicated that the least stressful position of the left hand was about 350 mm from the center of the trunk in the longitudinal (front–back) direction and 100 mm left of the center of the trunk in the lateral (right–left) direction.