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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1447358

Automotive Workers: The Role of Coordinative and Conditional Abilities as Effectiveness Wellness Indicator

Provisionally accepted
Angelo Rodio Angelo Rodio 1Tommaso Di Libero Tommaso Di Libero 1*Alessandro Biffi Alessandro Biffi 2Fredric Fernando Fredric Fernando 2luigi Fattorini luigi Fattorini 3
  • 1 Department of Human, Social and Health Sciences, University of Cassino, Cassino, Italy
  • 2 Independent researcher, Rome, Italy
  • 3 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Lazio, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Noncommunicable diseases are increasing due to sedentary and unhealthy lifestyles. The World Health Organization and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend a healthy diet and regular physical activity, particularly in the workplace. Prolonged and repetitive work tasks can result in extended sick leave and decreased productivity while at work. Therefore, it is important to identify predictive factors that can act as indicators of the health status of employees. Utilizing motor abilities assessment tests can help to identify health issues at an early stage. Promoting preventive health measures is crucial to addressing chronic diseases and enhancing overall occupational well-being. The purpose was to characterize workers' motor abilities and fitness levels and identify potential indicators. A total of 606 workers took part in this study, including 529 men with a height of 176±0.09cm and body mass of 75.9±14.1kg, as well as 77 women with a height of 162±0.11cm and an average body mass of 58.9±11.1kg. These individuals were enrolled during an Italian automotive corporation's mandatory annual medical check-up. The participants were categorized into three groups based on their occupational roles: blue collar, manager, and white collar groups. Participants underwent motor abilities assessment tests for upper-limb strength, trunk flexibility, and reaction time. Blue collar reported the best results in upper-limb strength (93.3kgf±18.60), but worse in flexibility (21.7cm±7.90), and reaction time total time (58.8s±4.74;) and average intermedium (0.68ms±0.11). The white collar group shows the best result in flexibility (23.7cm±8.94) and reaction time (48.5s±4.38; 0.64ms±0.09). Despite being frequently used to assess health status, hand grip measurements may not provide accurate differentiation because of the common use of blue collar workers for tasks requiring upper-limb strength. In contrast, reaction time metrics appear more reliable and discriminative in evaluating a worker's physical fitness.

    Keywords: Corporate wellness, Occupational position, physical activity, Motor abilities, Handgrip, Flexibility, Reaction Time

    Received: 11 Jun 2024; Accepted: 17 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Rodio, Di Libero, Biffi, Fernando and Fattorini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tommaso Di Libero, Department of Human, Social and Health Sciences, University of Cassino, Cassino, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.