Review on Reliability of Observational Methods to Evaluate Postural Load

Observational methods to evaluate postural load have an intrinsic week point that is the problem of reliability in observing postures subjectively, although they have been widely used in assessing risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the industry. In this study, observational reliability was discussed based on reviewing several previous studies. Practical guidelines was presented to reduce the observational errors when using video recording for the assessment of risk factors. In addition, previous studies on observational reliability were summarized and analyzed according to body parts to be observed, media for observation, objective measures, analysis, statistics, etc. It is expected that this basic study can be used to increase the applicability and accuracy of the observational methods.