Obstetrics and Gynecology Trainees Face Higher Musculoskeletal Demands than General Surgery Trainees in Simulated Laparoscopic Tasks—An Observational Study

Khan, Z, Shugaba, A, Davitt, M, Shrestha, D, Lambert, J, Clark, J, Bampouras, T ORCID: 0000-0002-8991-4655, Hayes, L, Nuttall, H, Subar, D, Sanal-Hayes, N and Gaffney, C (2025) Obstetrics and Gynecology Trainees Face Higher Musculoskeletal Demands than General Surgery Trainees in Simulated Laparoscopic Tasks—An Observational Study. Healthcare, 13 (24). ISSN 2227-9032

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Abstract

Background/Objectives: Laparoscopic surgery has become the pre-eminent surgical approach for performing general surgical and gynecological operations, but it can lead to musculoskeletal disorder in surgeons. This study aimed to investigate the musculoskeletal demands of completing four core laparoscopic skills tasks amongst Obstetrics and Gynecology (O&G) and General Surgery (GS) trainees, recognizing that differences between specialties may create different ergonomic and muscular demands. Methods: Ten O&G and ten GS trainees both performed the same four tasks to evaluate their core laparoscopic skills whilst using electromyography (EMG) to assess the physical demand of each task in the trainee groups as a percent of maximum voluntary contraction. Results: O&G trainees had significantly higher muscle activity when completing a hand–eye coordination (HEC) task (167.9 ± 63.8 vs. 92.5 ± 31.3%, p = 0.019), bimanual coordination (BMC) task (205.6 ± 80.7 vs. 106.9 ± 47.0%, p = 0.017), and suturing (267.7 ± 121.6 vs. 122.2 ± 33.0%, p = 0.016) task in the right trapezius and deltoid muscle groups compared to GS trainees. No difference was observed between trainee groups in the laparoscopic camera navigation (LCN) task (p = 0.438). Conclusions: There appears to be increased muscular activity in O&G compared to GS trainees during the same simulated laparoscopic tasks. The findings should inform training policy around the optimization of ergonomics to minimize the risk of musculoskeletal disorder.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	laparoscopy; obstetrics; gynaecology; surgical training; electromyography; ergonomics; 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences; 42 Health sciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QP Physiology R Medicine > RD Surgery R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	MDPI AG
Date of acceptance:	4 December 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	10 December 2025
Date Deposited:	10 Dec 2025 14:54
Last Modified:	10 Dec 2025 14:54
DOI or ID number:	10.3390/healthcare13243223
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27697

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