Micropauses Help Prevent Surgeon's Fatigue

A new study suggests that micropauses (MPs) are effective in preventing surgeon’s muscular fatigue and loss of accuracy during prolonged operations.

Researchers at the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) conducted a prospective experimental study involving 16 surgeons to evaluate the effectiveness of 20 second MPs every 20 minutes, as a method to prevent muscular fatigue and its deleterious effect on during prolonged surgical procedures. The surgeons were tested three times: once in a control situation before any surgery and twice after a prolonged, reproducible operation, one of these with formal MP and the other without.

Muscular fatigue was tested by holding a 2.5 kg weight as long as possible with a stretched arm; accuracy was evaluated by measuring mistakes made when following a predetermined path on a board; and discomfort was measured by visual analog scale (VAS). The results showed a statistically, and more importantly, a clinically significant difference between the control situation and surgical procedures performed without MPs in all three tests. The MPs prevented completely or almost completely the effects of fatigue associated with surgery. The study was published early online on January 11, 2013, in Annals of Surgery.

“Surgical procedures are associated with significant muscular fatigue that can be measured simply and which has a direct effect on comfort and surgical accuracy,” concluded lead author Dominique Dorion, MD, and colleagues of the division of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery. “More important, this effect is completely or almost completely prevented by MPs.”

The objective of taking MPs is to reduce muscle fatigue and improve circulation, as well as reducing the negative consequences of repetitive work, prolonged standing, and activities that cause stress to the body. During the MPs, stretching and bending of the back, neck, abdominal, and pelvic muscles is recommended, as well as swinging the arms and closing the eyes for a few seconds to reduce eyestrain.

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University of Sherbrooke