Chapter 7

Work Capacity, Stress

and Fatigue
BMMD 3553 Ergonomics Design

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Objectives
• Understand the concept of stress and
fatigue related to humans.
• Be able to describe the muscle
structure, function and capacity
• Be able to explain muscle contraction
• Physical Work Capacity (PWC)
• Vo2 max 2
Introduction
• Stress is our body’s response to the things
that happen to us.

• Stressors are those things that cause you

stress (e.g. your lecturers, your boss, your
work)

• Stress is described by different ways by

different researchers. 3
Introduction
• Stress is viewed by researchers from 2 viewpoints:

• Hooke’s Law (stress is viewed from

mechanical point of view)

• Selye’s model (Physiological description)

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Mechanical viewpoint of stress
• Humans react to stress. Stress is appropriately
termed as “applied loading” (this is the classical
view on stress)

• Hooke’s Law : a model for stress, once loading is

applied to a spring, the spring lengthens.

• But what happens if the spring is loaded beyond

capacity? Permanent deformation occurs.
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Selye’s Model (Physiological)

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Selye’s Model of Stress
• According to Selye (1956), stress is “Non specific
response of the organism to any demand made upon it“

• H. Selye (1956) was interested in the endocrinological

responses to life events and his key insight was that
many, very different, noxious stimuli produce the same
effects.

• General Adaptation Syndrome : Alarm, Resistance, and

Exhaustion. 7
General Adaptation Syndrome
• Is the physiological reaction to stress
that results in this illness streak and it
has three stages.
• Alarm
• Resistance
• Exhaustion

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Above stages are what happens when a person is stressed (Selye)?
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 Alarm – immediate
reaction
• Intrusion of noxious stimuli (job
stressor) leads to strong hormonal
responses to get the person ready to
respond to the stressor
• Heart rate and blood pressure
increase
• Blood vessels dilate

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A noxious stimulus is "an actually or potentially tissue damaging event."
Resistance - adaptation
• If the stressor persists, the body tries to
adapt to the continued exposure.
• This requires further physiological
resources
• Energy required to maintain this
adaptation is limited

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Exhaustion – damage
evolution
• Body can no longer adapt – runs out
of resources
• Ulcers
• Immune disorders
• Cardiovascular disease

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Measures of Stress
• Urinary catecholamine concentration =
used for level of stress and resulting
physiological arousal,
• Salivary cortisol levels = degree of
emotional response to the situation
• These endocrine markers are indicators of
stress.
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Fatigue
• Fatigue is usually inferred from its effects:
most directly, decline in physical or mental
task performance.

• When the task becomes more difficult to

perform, then fatigue has likely occured.

• The interest lies in localized muscle 17

fatigue, which is the focus of this chapter.
Fatigue
• In essence, fatigue manifests itself as an
increasing resistance to continuing with a
task. As long as this resistance can be
overcome, performance continues, but
with subjectively greater effort.

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Muscles, structure and function and capacity

Muscles  Muscle Fibers  Myofibrils 

Sarcomeres  Actin and Myosins

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Muscles, structure and function and capacity

• 3 types of muscles in the human

body:
• Skeletal muscle
• Smooth muscle
• Cardiac muscle

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Muscles, structure and function and capacity

• Where do muscles get their energy from?

• The energy required for muscle contraction

is obtained from phosphate compounds in
the muscle tissue.

• These compounds are formed from the

breakdown of food
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Muscles, structure and function
and capacity
ADP = Adenosine di-phosphate
ATP = Adenosine tri-phosphate

ATP has one more phosphate group than ADP, and

because ATP has one more phosphate group than
ADP, it contains more potential energy because
more bonds could be broken

ATP forms ADP when it breaks a phosphate group

to utilize its bond energy to do work, and ADP 22
forms AMP (adenosine mono-phosphate)
Muscles, structure and function and capacity

• Energy for action comes from breaking down

ATP
• By the breaking of one of the phosphate
bonds, ATP is converted to ADP (adenosine
diphosphate) and energy is made available
inside the cell.

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Muscles, structure and function and capacity

• In order for the cell to continue functioning,

the ADP must be reconverted back to ATP so
that energy can continue to be made
available when required.
• A second phosphate compound known as
creatine phosphate acts like a ‘back-up’
energy store to ‘recharge’ the ADP to ATP.

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Muscles, structure and function and
capacity
• ATP is also required to break the actin and
myosin attraction. Remember, the msucle
works by sliding the actin and myosin
filaments.

• Sooner or later, the ATP supply will finish

and more ATP is needed
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Muscles, structure and
function and capacity

• Mitochondria is reponsible for converting

our food into a form of energy in the form
of ATP.

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Muscle contraction
• According to the sliding filament theory:
• The mechanism of muscle contraction
consists of the actin filaments sliding
over the myosin filaments
• Since the actin and myosin filaments are
arranged in overlapping, alternating
bands like a multilayered sandwich,
sliding of the former over the latter
causes the sarcomeres to shorten 27
Muscle contractions
Eccentric contractions. The muscle
lengthens while contracting.

Isometric contractions. The muscle length

remains constant during contraction.

Concentric contractions. The muscle

shortens while contracting. 28
In what ways muscle can
fatigue ?
1. Energy demand > Energy supply
2. Mechanical capacity of muscles are
exceeded
3. Accumulation of waste products
such as lactic acid

# 1 and 3 are often talked about when discussing muscle

fatigue 29
Muscle Fatigue
• Muscles convert glucose and oxygen into
CO2 and H20, thus creating energy.
• Regular blood supply is required to
remove waste products .
• During exercise, blood flow is facilitated by
muscle action.
• Fatigue can be attributed to the depletion
of nutrients (glucose)
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Static vs Dynamic Work
• Static Work • Dynamic Work
• Sustained • Repeated muscle
muscular contraction-
contraction relaxation cycle
• Reduced blood • Increase in blood
flow flow
• No increase in • Increase in muscle
muscle oxygenation
oxygenation • Aerobic exercise
• Anaerobic exercise (oxygen
(oxygen dependent)
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independent)
Muscle Fatigue
• Usually, the oxygen requirements >
capacity of blood circulation system, thus,
the burning of glucose is done without
oxygen.
• This is called “anaerobic” process.
• Lactic acid is produced in this process, and
it hinders the ability for the muscles to
work.*
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Muscle Fatigue
• When muscles contract, they occlude the blood
vessels within them and thus diminish their own
blood supply.
• Repeated or sustained activities, rapid
movements and large forces can stimulate pain
receptors in a muscle.
• Since skeletal muscle makes up 40% of the
tissues of the body, it should come as no surprise
that many of the aches and pains we experience
in our daily lives are of muscular origin 33
Methods to measure muscle
fatigue
• Electromyography
(EMG). Electrical
activity in muscles can
be detected either
using surface
electrodes placed on
the skin overlying the
muscle or by needle
electrodes inserted 34

into the muscle body.

Rhomet’s Equation for Muscle Fatigue

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Physical Work Capacity (PWC)

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Physical Work Capacity(PWC)
• Ability to perform maximal physical work
• Physical work capacity refers to a worker’s
capacity for energy output.

• Energy is provided from by

-oxygen-dependent and
-oxygen-independent processes.
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Physical Work Capacity
• Aerobic = Oxygen dependent process in
creating energy. The oxygen is needed
to breakdown glucose.

• Anaerobic = Energy creation without

oxygen. Body’s demand for energy >
ability to provide oxygen
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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

Physical Work Capacity
• Exercise physiologists and sports scientists
have used the term ‘VO2 max’ to describe an
individual’s capacity to utilise oxygen
(aerobic capacity).

• VO2 max is the maximum rate of oxygen

consumption (or maximal aerobic capacity)
during an incremental exercise. It reflects the
physical fitness of a person.
• Measured in litres of oxygen/minute 40

PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

VO2
• The name is derived from three abbreviations: "V" for volume,
"O2" for oxygen, and "max" for maximum. Maximal oxygen
consumption reflects cardiorespiratory fitness and endurance
capacity in exercise performance.

• VO2 max is widely used as an indicator of cardiorespiratory

fitness.

Cardiovascular: Relating to the circulatory system, which comprises the heart

and blood vessels and carries nutrients and oxygen to the tissues of the body
and removes carbon dioxide and other wastes from them.
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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

VO2 max has traditionally
been estimated by having
subjects run on a treadmill or
pedal a bicycle ergometer
while their oxygen uptake is
measured.

The running or cycling speed

is increased in an
incremental manner and
oxygen uptake is measured
approximately every 3–5
minutes after the subject has
adapted to each new work
rate.

As might be expected, it is
observed that oxygen uptake 42
increases as the work rate is
increased.
PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work
PWC : VO2 Max.
• Clearly, oxygen consumption and heart
rate cannot continue to increase
indefinitely.

• In any work situation, a point is reached at

which a person cannot increase the work
rate any more.
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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

 The Importance of VO2Max
• VO2 max is the gold standard for determining aerobic
fitness and cardiovascular endurance.
• Since muscles need oxygenated blood for intense and/or
prolonged exercise, the heart must pump enough blood
through the circulatory system to meet the demands of
intense exercise.
• As a rule of thumb, the more oxygen you can use during
intense exercise, the more energy your body can produce.
It, in fact, reflects the aerobic physical fitness of the
athlete.
• Not only that, research also shows that people with high
VO2max scores, are healthier, live longer, and enjoy a
better quality of life. 44

PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

PWC: VO2 Max
• NIOSH (1981) has published data
concerning the maximum aerobic capacity
of US workers.

• 50th percentile = male : 63 kj/min female:

44.0 kj/min
• 5th percentile = male : 52.3 kj/min female:
33.5 kj/min
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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

Physical Work Capacity
• For continuous work, NIOSH states that
energy expenditure < 33% of an
individual’s maximum capacity

• Translated into : 21 kJ/min for men

14.6 kJ/min for women over an 8-hour
shift.
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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

Factors affecting PWC
• Weight (more energy needed to move, it is
possible to increase one’s relative VO2 max
by shedding excess kilograms of fat.)
• Age (VO2 max declines gradually after 20
years of age)
• Gender (Women have a lower VO2 max
than men)
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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

Factors affecting PWC
• Smokers (Smoking reduces work capacity
by reducing the oxygen carrying capacity
of the blood)
• Training (can increase VO2 max)
• Motivation (important determinant of
work capacity)

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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

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PWC: Ability to perform maximal physical work

 References
• Bridger R.S., Introduction to Ergonomics, Mc Graw Hill
Companies, 1995.

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