# Ergonomic Assessment of Physical Load in Slovak Industry Using Wearable Technologies
## 4 Discussion  
This paper aimed to contribute to the experimental research on MSDs due to their high incidence in industry and the importance of their prevention in the framework of safety and health at work. Regular monitoring of job positions in the industry helps reduce or avoid the risk of injury and occupational diseases and provides comfort and efficient performance at work. In Slovakia, the evidence of WSMDs is still insufficient, and therefore the incidence rate is unknown. Due to the legislation, people with identified disorders have trouble finding a new job after leaving a current position due to the illness and often rehabilitation. Designing healthy workplaces can improve well-being and healthy aging of the population and ambient environment as well as increase efficiency and productivity of operations. As human performance is related to age, sex, muscle strength, body structure, motor skills, the function of sensory organs, and mental ability, some workers might require body support using an exoskeleton, while others in good physical condition might prefer to work without such means. Exoskeletons can become a promising means of overcoming the uneven performance of workers, which often arise from advancing age or gender differences, and thus may become a promising tool provided the right regime of their use, along with the suitability of individual types for specific work activities. Our strategy for MSDs prevention focuses on evaluating ergonomic risks at the Slovak factories using scientific tools with wearable wireless measurement systems--Captiv and Actigraph. The main issues with our methodology are:  
* Performing the inspection of the workplaces for the determination of work activities causing risk using less disturbing measurement methods;
* Exposing the health problems of employees in the musculoskeletal system identified through the modified ergonomic Nordic Questionnaire (NQ-E) [50]. NQ is a symptom questionnaire, designed for all musculoskeletal disorders. The extended version of NQ-E contains some additional questions regarding body postures; job demands and social support;
* Performing a professional assessment of work activities focused on the analysis and prevention of occupational diseases (overuse syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, MSDs (musculoskeletal disorders), post-traumatic stress, etc.) due to long-term, excessive, and unilateral load;
* Performing the experiments with and without the exoskeleton in order to verify the suitability and duration of wearing the exoskeletons in Slovak factories. Researchers such as [PERSON] et al. [48] and [PERSON] [49] raised the question, \"Does a sit-stand pattern result in decreasing worker discomfort, injury mechanisms, development of MSDs (especially back disorders), and increasing worker productivity, compared to only standing posture?\" Sit-stand work shall be studied in terms of preventing fatigue in the workplace [51; 52]. Our contribution is a reaction to that question, and we have already started with research on the sit-stand pattern in the Slovak industrial conditions. However, exoskeletons also offer other functional support for a worker's body, releasing the load on different body parts. Therefore, we will continue in our research to investigate the availability of applying other types of exoskeletons. Based on the collected anthropometric data used as input for wearable systems Captiv and Actigraph, we are currently able to obtain relevant data for assessing the ergonomic layout of the workplace and take a decision on the adjustment. We are able to compare results about its impact on both the human motion system and human physical behavior from experiments when an occupational exoskeleton is worn or not. We used the wireless sensor system Captiv for ergonomic risk assessment at the assembly workplace in the automotive industry. Our tested workers repetitively performed assembly of synchronous units in the transmission at a fast pace. Measurement results indicated the unacceptable ergonomic risk in the neck, shoulder, and hip joints.