Effects of Upper Body Static Deep Flexion on Spinal Stability

Details

• Personal Author:
  Paquet V ; Shin G
• Description:
  Prolonged stooping has been known as one of key contributing factors to the development and occurrence of low back injuries or disorders. Specifically, workers at construction sites and agricultural fields are often required to maintain a deep upper body forward flexion posture to conduct work at or below knee height, and it has been associated with their high prevalence of low back disorders. To better understand the cause-effect relationship between prolonged stooping and low back disorders, this project examined how the activity of low back muscles and movement patterns change during a course of a simulated crop harvesting task in a laboratory. More specifically, this project was aimed to understand how a stooped work task that resembled crop harvesting work can increase the risk of work-related low back disorders by analyzing various biomechanical signs of muscle fatigue and joint instability in a human subject experimental study. Study results found low but consistent use of low back muscles during a stooped work task and the development of muscle fatigue after the stooped work task. The continuous use of low back muscles during prolonged stooping caused the muscle fatigue and could be one of key risk factors for low back disorders of workers who frequently conduct stooped work tasks. Previously, prolonged stooping has been considered as a static work posture. Low back muscles were thought to be fully flexed and relaxed (flexion-relaxation), and researchers did not pay attention to the changes in the muscles. The results of this study, however, suggest the importance of biomechanical evaluation of muscle activities to properly assess the risks of prolonged stooped work tasks. Findings of this study can be used to develop a method and a device that can assess the level of risks of prolonged stooped posture by using wearable muscle activity monitoring sensors. Future research will focus on the development of a wearable monitoring device and assessment method for preventing work-related low back disorders from prolonged stooped work tasks. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Biomechanical Phenomena Construction Industry Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Workers Back Injuries Biomechanics Construction Workers Low Back Disorders Low Back Pain Muscle Function Posture
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-18
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056724
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2019-101413
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, R03-OH-009885, 2013 Dec; :1-18
• Contact Point Address:
  Victor Paquet, Sc.D., University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 322 Bell Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
• Email:
  vpaquet@buffalo.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20100901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20130831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b56703d47d80321d1050388e74968901ba3a70e11aa1bd01b093b41fab400ed47c41a8cfa2a596afa789b7dfff14d9b37ce17aab404b61c795237495a191520a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218909/cdc_218909_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 461.03 KB ]