Sa. Miller et A. Freivalds, A STRESS STRENGTH INTERFERENCE MODEL FOR PREDICTING CTD PROBABILITIES, International journal of industrial ergonomics, 15(6), 1995, pp. 447-457
A model for predicting the incidence rate of carpal tunnel syndrome (C
TS) for a given job, was developed using known biomechanical data, mec
hanical properties of human tendons and reliability engineering techni
ques to simplify the problem. In addition, time-dependent stress-stren
gth interference theory was used to quantify the stress on the tendons
during a job cycle, based on wrist position and grip strength and to
estimate the tendon failure rate (or CTS incidence) for a given job. H
igher failure probabilities were predicted for greater wrist deviation
s, for higher grasp forces, for females as compared to males, for wris
t extension as compared to wrist flexion, and for two-fingered pinches
as compared to four-fingered grasps. The predictions closely matched
previously reported CTS incidence rates for a poultry thigh boning tas
k.