The prevalence of osteoarthritic symptoms of the hands amongst female massage therapists
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background : Numerous occupations increase one's risk of developing osteoarthritis. Massage therapists rely heavily on their hands and cumulative hand strain injuries that occur whilst performing a massage may lead to the development of osteoarthritic symptoms. Females are at greater risk of developing osteoarthritis. Furthermore age weight, genetic predisposition; working years, working hours as well as body mass index all increase the risk of developing osteoarthritis. Objective : This study sought to investigate the prevalence of osteoarthritic symptoms of the hands amongst female massage therapists, as well as to establish both an average age of symptomatic onset and whether their daily work productivity was influenced. Materials and methods : Since the massage industry is predominantly practiced by females, female massage therapists, irrespective of age and registered with a South African Regulating Body were included. Participants were required to complete a self-administered questionnaire which evaluated age, self-reported symptomatic presence of and family history of osteoarthritis, and body mass index. Participants also completed the AUSCAN™ Hand Osteoarthritis Index LK3.1 (Australian/Canadian Hand Osteoarthritis Index) which assesses pain, disability and joint stiffness of the hands. The sample was divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of self-reported symptoms. All gathered data was analysed by the University of Johannesburg's statistics department (Statkon) by use of IBMSPSS Statistics software version 21. Results : The mean age of symptomatic presentation was 43 years. The AUSCAN™ Index found that more than half of the total sample reported osteoarthritic symptoms in their hands. Participants in the non-symptomatic group also indicated a positive response to symptoms on the AUSCAN™ Index although they did not self-report a symptomatic onset age. Conclusion : In this sample, massage therapists experienced osteoarthritic symptoms that cause pain and stiffness in their hands. It also seemed evident that the symptoms experienced were also responsible for placing strain on their ability to perform daily tasks. This study serves as a basis for further dialogue, research and professional awareness.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".