Promoting endoscopists' health through cutting-edge motion analysis technology: Accuracy and precision of ergonomic...

Endoscopists often suffer from musculoskeletal disorders due to posture-specific workloads imposed by precise maneuvering or long procedural duration. An ergonomic motion tracking system for endoscopy suite (EMTES) was developed using Azure Kinect sensors to evaluate the occlusion, accuracy, and precision, focusing mainly on upper and lower limb movements.

Three healthy male participants pointed the prescribed points for 5 s on the designated work envelopes and their coordinates were measured. The mean occlusion rate (%) of the 32 motion tracking landmarks, standard deviation (SD) of distance and orientation, and partial regression coefficient (β) and R² model fit for accuracy were calculated using the time series of coordinates data of the upper/lower limb movements.

The mean occlusion rate was 5.2 ± 10.6% and 1.6 ± 1.4% for upper and lower limb movements, respectively. Of the 32 landmarks, 28 (87.5%) had occlusion rates of 10% or less. The mean SDs of 4.2 mm for distance and 1.2° for orientation were found. Most of the R² values were over 0.9. In the case of right upper/lower limb measurement for orientation, β coefficients ranged from 0.82 to 1.36.

EMTES is reliable in calculating occlusion, precision, and accuracy for practical motion-tracking measurements in endoscopists.