Abstract
Caregivers have lower back pain (LBP) since they must reposition patients in bed frequently. Thus, the low lumbar load posture for turning patients should be explored. In this study, we focused on foot position because it can be easily adjusted to reduce back pain. The hypothesis was that short anteroposterior foot distance could reduce lumbar loads because closer position to patient made smaller moments. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between foot position and lumbar loads while turning patients on beds. Furthermore, we compared compression stresses of L4–L5 via computational simulation and erector spinae muscle activities obtained from electromyography (EMG) in nine foot positions. The results showed that short anteroposterior foot distance reduced lumbar loads while turning a patient on a bed.
Highlights
Caregivers have lower back pain (LBP) due when handling patients while providing care [1]–[4]
The maximum compression forces were in the initial posture for all foot positions
The results revealed that the compression stress of L4–L5 in foot positions A, B, and C with short anteroposterior foot distance were less than 3400 N, and the maximum compression stresses of L4–L5 were more than 3400 N in other foot positions
Summary
Caregivers have lower back pain (LBP) due when handling patients while providing care [1]–[4]. The low load posture and movement for turning a patient should be investigated to prevent LBP among caregivers. Several previous studies investigated postures, movement, and devices to reduce the lumbar load during patient handling [6]–[10]. Turn-assist devices could reduce the caregiver’s load when repositioning a patient on a bed [9, 10]. These assistive devices were not used in several workspaces because caregivers require timeefficient, comfortable, and cost effective devices [11]
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