Exploring the relationships between psychosocial factors, biomechanical workstyle, muscle tension, and musculoskeletal discomfort reporting

This research initiative explored various aspects of including trait and state psychosocial factors in laboratory-based biomechanical investigations. The project was comprised of an exploratory survey phase followed by two laboratory experiments. Prior to the laboratory studies, 102 students were pre-tested and categorized as personality Type A or B using scores on the Jenkins Activity Survey. During the first laboratory experiment, pre-tested participants (N = 24) performed an assembly task while their performance and wrist motion parameters were recorded. The task was performed under two conditions of time stress (no-stress and stress) imposed via verbal script. During the second laboratory experiment, a separate group of participants (N = 25) performed a pipetting task and a computer entry task while performance and muscle activity were measured. The pipetting task was performed under two conditions of time stress. The computer entry task was performed under two conditions of psychosocially-imposed frustration stress. Discomfort and anxiety reporting behaviors were evaluated in both experiments.; Personality type impacted performance during assembly (by 12–14%) but not during pipetting or computer entry. Personality type did not impact wrist motion kinematics. The effects of personality type on muscle activity, discomfort, and anxiety were often moderated by gender. Psychosocially-imposed time stress impacted performance times (by 11–23%), wrist motion velocities and accelerations (by 8–26%), and muscle activity (by 9–29%), though some of these effects were moderated by gender and/or stress condition order. In general, time stress did not impact discomfort reports, but it did increase anxiety by 8% for the assembly task. Psychosocially-imposed frustration stress had limited effects, although it did increase reported anxiety by 6%.; The results of this study demonstrate that the biomechanical response of individuals is a complex phenomenon, encompassing interactions of individual characteristics, task characteristics, and psychosocial stress. This effort provides additional insight into (1) potential biobehavioral pathways between psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal illness and (2) methodological strategies for exploring these relationships.