China Safety Science Journal ›› 2025, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (8): 263-270.doi: 10.16265/j.cnki.issn1003-3033.2025.08.0401

• Occupational health • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Musculoskeletal fatigue assessment method based on biomechanics

HE Jiehua(), WANG Yiyan, MAO Ying, TONG Ruipeng**()   

  1. School of Emergency Management and Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, Beijing 10083, China
  • Received:2025-03-02 Revised:2025-05-23 Online:2025-08-28 Published:2026-02-28
  • Contact: TONG Ruipeng

Abstract:

To effectively prevent WMSDs caused by cumulative fatigue, this study proposes a fatigue quantification method that integrates computer vision and biomechanical modeling. The method extracts 3D posture data of workers using the MMPose model and builds individualized musculoskeletal models in OpenSim. It reconstructs complete work cycles and simulates muscle loading. By calculating joint reaction forces and muscle activation levels, fatigue indices for joints and muscles are developed. The method is applied to analyze fatigue progression in the lumbar spine during a typical lifting task. Results show that the L5-S1 joint and associated multifidus muscles exhibit significant fatigue accumulation in a typical bending and lifting task. Some muscles show lateral asymmetry in fatigue, and both deep stabilizing and core muscle groups are involved in posture maintenance and load response. The method can dynamically track fatigue changes during work tasks and identify high-risk areas of fatigue, and can be applicable to fatigue risk warning in dynamic, high-load operation scenarios.

Key words: biomechanics, work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), muscle fatigue, cumulative fatigue, OpenSim

CLC Number: