1.Analyses of the workload upon the lower back of farmers who cultivate strawberries under greenhouses.
Takajiro SUENAGA ; Katsuyoshi MAEDA ; Tsuneko YAMADA ; Mariko OKI ; Hiroyuki TERUYA ; Makoto TAKAMATSU
Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 1986;35(2):134-146
In order to find some countermeasures to relieve the workload upon the lower back due to harvesting and sorting strawberries, prevalence of localized fatigue complaints and flexibility of spine of strawberry farmers were compared with eggplant farmers. Furthermore time study, global EMG and biomechanical analysis of body postures during harvesting strawberries and so forth were performed. Obtained results are as follows:
1) As for the localized fatigue complaints during the one month soon after harvesting season, prevalence of the lower back pain was 58.1% in men and 82.5% in women. As to the body part where fatigue feeling appears during harvesting strawberries, most of the farmers pointed out the lower back.
2) Flexibility of the spine was disturbed in some degree compared with the eggplant farmers.
3) The specific stooping posture with the left forearm supported by the left thigh just above the knee was sometimes observed and was suspected to relieve the load upon the lower back. This posture was proved to decrease the moment upon the lower back, to straighten the unnatural curvature of thoracolumbar spine, and relieve the muscle tension of legs.
4) Too short leisure season in the strawberry cultivation and too short sleeping hours due to long working hours during harvesting season were considered to accelarate the accumulative localized fatigue in the lower back.
2.The Seasonal Change of the Blood Properties of Farmers
Makoto Futatsuka ; Yoshiki Arimatsu ; Atsushi Ueda ; Junichi Misumi ; Toshie Tomio ; Hiroyuki Teruya ; Tadako Ueda ; Ritsu Yasutake ; Toshio Matsushita ; Shigeru Nomura
Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 1973;22(1):32-45
In order to study whether there is any relation between the cause of anemia in rural women and environmental factor from the epidemiological standpoint, we have followed up the seasonal change of the blood properties (GB, Hb, Ht, R, Serum iron) of 3 groups of women in different working and living circumstances.
The results revealed a remarkable tendency to increase the values of the blood properties excluding serum iron in winter and to decrease in summer. The degree of seasonal change was found to be greater in rural women than that in factory workers. And among the factory workers, the married had more change than the unmarried, the rural residents than the urban. And among the rural women, only the establishmental gardeners who were especially busy in winter showed a tendency to decrease the values of the blood properties in winter.
From these data, we can see that the seasonal change of the burden of agricultural work and the change of dietary life actually have direct influence on the change of the blood properties.
3.Spontaneous Low Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure Headache Initially Misdiagnosed as a Tension-type Headache
Hisashi Nishisako ; Hiroyuki Kunishima ; Gohji Shimizu ; Yoshiyuki Naitou ; Yoko Teruya ; Masatoshi Yokokawa ; Kentaro Masui ; Masanori Hirose ; Tsubasa Sakai ; Yukitaka Yamasaki ; Tomoya Tsuchida ; Takaaki Nemoto ; Keito Torikai ; Teisuke Nakagawa ; Takahide Matsuda
General Medicine 2014;15(1):43-46
We report the case of a 34-year-old man who was initially diagnosed with a tension-type headache after complaining of a headache and nausea. His headache worsened in severity and it was exacerbated on standing in the upright position. The patient was admitted to the hospital on suspicion of spontaneous low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure headache. Gadolinium-enhanced brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed diffuse pachymeningeal enhancement, brain sagging, cerebellar tonsillar herniation, brainstem descent and a subdural hematoma. Successful emergency surgery was undertaken.
Spontaneous low CSF pressure headache syndrome is characterized by orthostatic headache, and if such a headache worsens, clinicians should consider a subdural hematoma, a life-threatening complication of this unusual disorder.