Age-related injury risk curves for the lumbar spine for use in low-back-pain prevention in manual handling tasks

Kudo, Naoki; Yamada, Yoji; Ito, Daisuke

doi:10.1186/s40648-019-0139-9

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Ninety-five percent of the hip-supported devices aim to assist the lower back (e.g., Chen et al, 2018 [Table 3, Row 28]; Yu et al, 2015 [Table 3, Row 30]; Zhang & Huang, 2018 [Table 3, Row 26]). This could be due to the prevalence of lower back injuries and their correlation to lifting from the ground (Karwowski et al, 2005) and hyperflexion of the lumbar spine (Kudo et al, 2019), which is controlled by the hip joint (categorized as a part of the squat/deadlift systems). Exoskeletons assisting the back actuate from the hip to minimize the increased torques to the lower back caused by hyper flexion during lifting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exoskeleton Application to Military Manual Handling Tasks

et al. 2020

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Objective The aim of this review was to determine how exoskeletons could assist Australian Defence Force personnel with manual handling tasks. Background Musculoskeletal injuries due to manual handling are physically damaging to personnel and financially costly to the Australian Defence Force. Exoskeletons may minimize injury risk by supporting, augmenting, and/or amplifying the user’s physical abilities. Exoskeletons are therefore of interest in determining how they could support the unique needs of military manual handling personnel. Method Industrial and military exoskeleton studies from 1990 to 2019 were identified in the literature. This included 67 unique exoskeletons, for which Information about their current state of development was tabulated. Results Exoskeleton support of manual handling tasks is largely through squat/deadlift (lower limb) systems (64%), with the proposed use case for these being load carrying (42%) and 78% of exoskeletons being active. Human–exoskeleton analysis was the most prevalent form of evaluation (68%) with reported reductions in back muscle activation of 15%–54%. Conclusion The high frequency of citations of exoskeletons targeting load carrying reflects the need for devices that can support manual handling workers. Exoskeleton evaluation procedures varied across studies making comparisons difficult. The unique considerations for military applications, such as heavy external loads and load asymmetry, suggest that a significant adaptation to current technology or customized military-specific devices would be required for the introduction of exoskeletons into a military setting. Application Exoskeletons in the literature and their potential to be adapted for application to military manual handling tasks are presented.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exoskeleton Application to Military Manual Handling Tasks

et al. 2020

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“…Kakushin-ken_Rinri_R03-02). Participants aged 20-40 years were selected because manual handling tasks pose a high risk of low back pain, and young individuals can tolerate relatively high lumbar loads (Kudo et al, 2019).…”

Section: Participants and Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the lumbar load limit will vary across age groups and sexes (Genaidy et al, 1993). Aging societies have a growing population of older workers, whose lumbar load limit is 1.69 kN lower than that of younger workers (Kudo et al, 2019). Women have lower lumbar load limits than men (Genaidy et al, 1993;Kudo et al, 2019).…”

Section: T-test Analysis: Effect On Peak Values Of Each Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic assessment for low back-support exoskeletons during manual handling tasks

Xiang,

Tanaka,

Umeno

et al. 2023

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

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Exoskeletons can protect users’ lumbar spine and reduce the risk of low back injury during manual lifting tasks. Although many exoskeletons have been developed, their adoptability is limited by their task- and movement-specific effects on reducing burden. Many studies have evaluated the safety and effectiveness of an exoskeleton using the peak/mean values of biomechanical variables, whereas the performance of the exoskeleton at other time points of the movement has not been investigated in detail. A functional analysis, which presents discrete time-series data as continuous functions, makes it possible to highlight the features of the movement waveform and determine the difference in each variable at each time point. This study investigated an assessment method for exoskeletons based on functional ANOVA, which made it possible to quantify the differences in the biomechanical variables throughout the movement when using an exoskeleton. Additionally, we developed a method based on the interpolation technique to estimate the assistive torque of an exoskeleton. Ten men lifted a 10-kg box under symmetric and asymmetric conditions five times each. Lumbar load was significantly reduced during all phases (flexion, lifting, and laying) under both conditions. Additionally, reductions in kinematic variables were observed, indicating the exoskeleton’s impact on motion restrictions. Moreover, the overlap F-ratio curves of the lumbar load and kinematic variables imply that exoskeletons reduce the lumbar load by restricting the kinematic variables. The results suggested that at smaller trunk angles (<25°), an exoskeleton neither significantly reduces the lumbar load nor restricts trunk movement. Our findings will help increasing exoskeleton safety and designing effective products for reducing lumbar injury risks.

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“…Since this upper limit applies only to young, healthy workers, Kudo et al [13] developed injury risk curves, which clarify the risk level of injury to the lumbar spine due to lumbar compressive force for individuals within a wide age range. However, work postures and musculoskeletal disorders are strongly related to each other [14].…”

Section: Harmful Posturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Posture and Mechanical Load Assessment During Patient Transfers

et al. 2022

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Caregivers experience high musculoskeletal loads during their daily work, which leads to back complaints and a high rate of absenteeism at work. This reinforces the already existing discrepancy between the supply and demand of caregivers. Ergonomically correct working can significantly reduce musculoskeletal load. Therefore, we developed a system that recognizes potentially harmful body postures. In a study with 13 caregiver students, we analyzed the body postures, as well as muscle activities, and loads during the transfer of a patient from bed to wheelchair. The body postures were measured by a full-body motion capture system and a Multi-Kinect System. Muscle activities and loads were recorded via surface electromyography and a force plate. The posture analysis system is based on the motion capture data and considers the recommendations for ergonomic working in the care sector. The system generates a result report visualizing the skeleton model as well as color-coded information about inclination and torsion angles. The motion capture data were also related to EMG and force data and analyzed according to biomechanical assumptions.

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Age-related injury risk curves for the lumbar spine for use in low-back-pain prevention in manual handling tasks

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

Exoskeleton Application to Military Manual Handling Tasks

Exoskeleton Application to Military Manual Handling Tasks

Dynamic assessment for low back-support exoskeletons during manual handling tasks

Posture and Mechanical Load Assessment During Patient Transfers

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