Manual Materials Handling and the Biomechanical Basis for Prevention of Low-Back Pain in Industry—An Overview

Abstract

Two different but dependent strategies must be developed to prevent low-back pain in industry. One is of an administrative nature and is concerned with whether the worker who performs activities that stress back tissues is appropriately evaluated and trained for such work. The second strategy is of an engineering type, dealing with methods to assure that the workplace and work tasks are specified in ways that minimize injurious stresses to the low back. Both of these strategies rely on knowledge of the biomechanical requirements of a job. These must be carefully evaluated by informed observers using prescribed measurement and analysis procedures. The fundamental biomechanics of heavy lifting and observational procedures developed by an expert panel for NIOSH are described. The procedure rates the difficulty of a lifting task and then recommends whether administrative or engineering controls are warranted to reduce low-back stresses. Some suggestions for preventing excessive low-back stress by redesigning the workplace are presented also.