Date of Award

2026-05-01

Degree Name

Master of Public Health

Department

Public Health

Advisor(s)

Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia

Abstract

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are a major source of occupational disability and economic burden worldwide. Early detection of physiological strain remains challenging since traditional methods often rely on self-reported pain or diagnosis after symptom development. Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) may provide an objective, non-invasive method for identifying early sensory changes associated with repetitive upper-extremity loading. Purpose: This pilot study examined the responsiveness of Pressure Pain Threshold (PPT) and Thermal Threshold Testing (TTT) for detecting Acute muscular strain and fatigue following repetitive manual task performance. Methods: A within-subject counterbalanced design was conducted with sixteen healthy participants. Each participant completed both a high-risk repetitive pipetting task and a low-risk control task. PPT and TTT measurements were collected at five time points: Baseline, Pre- and Post-low-risk task, and Pre- and Post-high-risk task. Due to non-normal distributions, Friedman tests were used to assess overall differences across time points, followed by Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for pairwise comparisons. Results: For PPT, a significant overall difference was observed across time points. Ͽ² = 16.339, p= .003. Pre- to post-task comparisons were not statistically significant for the low-risk (p = .109) or high-risk (p = .146) condition; however, moderate effect sizes were observed. Baseline-to-post-task comparisons were statistically significant (p = .016) and demonstrated large effect sizes. For TTT, no significant differences were found (Ͽ² = 9.25, p = .055), and values remained stable across conditions. Conclusions: Despite these limitations, the present findings provide preliminary support for the use of QST, particularly PPT, as a non-invasive tool for detecting early physiological responses to repetitive task exposure. The presence of moderate-to-large effect sizes, even in the absence of hypothesis-related statistical significance, suggests practical relevance and supports further investigation. Recommendations: Future studies should increase sample size and adjust methodology to better capture the impact of repetitive tasks, further validating PPT as an early-stage ergonomic screening tool.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

70 p.

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Omar Alberto Cano

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