BIOMECHANICAL OPTIMIZATION OF SURGICAL SKILLS: INFLUENCE OF HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT OF SURGICAL TABLE ON MOVEMENTS ACCURACY AND MUSCULAR FATIGUE

Serge Savoie¹, Rene Therrien¹, François Prince², Marcel Martin¹ and Simon Darveau¹.

¹University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Quebec), Canada. ²University of Montreal, Montreal (Quebec), Canada.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the height of the surgical table on movements accuracy and muscular fatigue, as well as on alignment of mechanical axes at the wrist and at the shoulder level. A "standard" table height was compared with an "ergonomic" height which was set 10% lower. Nine (9) first year residents in surgery performed a surgical procedure and were evaluated on movements accuracy and shoulder muscular fatigue. Results obtained with the table set at "ergonomic" height demonstrated higher accuracy (p £ 0.01) and less shoulder fatigue (p £ 0.01), as well as smaller deviations from neutral position both at the shoulder level (p £ 0.01) and at the wrist level (p £ 0.03).