News

MSOP Welcomes Three Undergraduate Research Associates ⟩
September 1, 2017

Rachel Eckerling, Sunny Fang, and Samantha Randolph, students enrolled in Chan Division B.S. in Occupational Science program, have joined the lab for the 2017-18 academic year as part of the USC Undergraduate Research Associates Program (URAP).  With funding from the USC Office of Undergraduate Education, the goal of this program is to support engagement of undergraduate students in collaborative research experiences with faculty.  The students selected for this program will be directly engaged in MSOP research evaluating risk of upper extremity disorders in dental hygienists.  Specifically, the research associates will be evaluating the activities and tasks, along with postures and positioning of dental hygiene students using video observation techniques.  These students will gain first hand experience and learn about task analysis, ergonomic assessments, and injury prevention research with Dr. Roll and the MSOP team.  Additionally, the students will collaborate with Dr. Jane Forrest (Dental Hygiene/Dentistry) and Dr. Wendy Mack (Preventive Medicine/Biostats) to learn about statistical analysis, explore links between work factors and poor postures that will inform injury risk assessment, and discuss opportunities for development of preventive interventions to reduce work-related injuries in dental hygienists.

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Nikki Colclazier presents at 2017 ADHA Conference ⟩
June 20, 2017

Nikki Colclazer, MS, RDH, recently presented the results of her master’s capstone project as part of the Dentsply Sirona graduate research student poster competition at the 94th Annual Conference of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association held on June 14-19, 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida. Nikki’s capstone project was entitled, “Use of video recordings to assess activities & postures that expose dental hygiene students to potential risk for musculoskeletal disorders.” The primary purpose of this project was to establish an ecologically valid and feasible method for obtaining video observations and conducting analyses of dental hygiene activities and tasks during a patient visit. This work resulted in a manualized protocol for obtaining and analyzing dental hygiene tasks, serving as a foundation for evaluating exposure to work-related risk factors within the lab’s on-going dental hygiene research study.

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MSOP Students Present at 2017 OT Summit of Scholars ⟩
June 5, 2017

Mark Hardison, PhD Candidate, and Sandy Takata, PhD Student, recently presented research findings at the 2017 Occupational Therapy Summit of Scholars hosted by Boston University.  Both presentations provided updates on data being obtained and analyzed in the Lab’s R01-supported study. 

Mark presented a poster with findings of the validity and reliability of a video observation protocol being used to evaluate the postures and hand activities of dental hygienists. This observation protocol will be used to identify variability in exposure to physical tasks across dental hygienists, providing the necessary information for where to best target preventive interventions to reduce the high rates of musculoskeletal injuries in dental professionals.

Sandy’s paper presentation was entitled, “Relationship of Internal Carpal Tunnel Measurements to External Wrist-Ratio: Implications for Prevention of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.”  Using sonographic imaging to measure the internal size and shape of the carpal tunnel, we have determined that these internal measurements are not necessarily directly related to the external boney structure of the wrist. Because the external shape of the wrist has been identified as a predictive factor for carpal tunnel syndrome, the finding that internal measurements differ from these external measures may provide new information that will help us to further improve our ability to identify individuals at risk for developing carpal tunnel syndrome.  Sandy received an OT Summit of Scholars Student Award for her abstract — Congratulations, Sandy!

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MSOP Represented at AIUM 2017 ⟩
March 25, 2017

Dr. Roll presented four sessions at the 2017 Annual Conference of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, in Orlando, Florida.  In a hands-on scanning session, Dr. Roll provided instruction to physician attendees in the use of sonography to identify nerves in the arm in order to perform nerve blocks. As part of a panel with physicians, Dr. Roll presented on proper techniques and potential pitfalls of using musculoskeletal sonography.  In addition to these instructional courses, attendees viewed an electronic poster presentation that described the methods for the MSOP Lab’s research study on the use of sonography for early detection of carpal tunnel syndrome, and Dr. Roll presented the first outcomes from this research in his scientific talk: “Relationship of Internal Carpal Tunnel Measurements With the External Wrist Ratio: Implications for Prevention and Diagnosis”.

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Shawn Roll Appointed Associate Editor of the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography ⟩
February 1, 2017

As of January 1, 2017, Dr. Roll has joined the editorial team of the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography.  In his role as an Associate Editor, Dr. Roll will oversee the review process for original research manuscripts. as well as other submissions focused on musculoskeletal sonography applications.  Together with the editors and staff, Dr. Roll looks forward to supporting the profession of sonography through dissemination of high-quality, original research.

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