Low Back Disorder Risk and Spinal Loading during Patient Transfer

Abstract

Patient handlers suffer from low back injuries at an alarming rate. While many have found patient handling to be associated with incidences of low back pain, there has been limited research quantifying the risk for the specific tasks performed by the patient handlers. The current study used both a risk evaluation system (Low Back Disorder risk model) and a biomechanical model (EMG-assisted spinal loading model) to quantitatively evaluate risk of LBD during patient handling.Seventeen subjects (twelve experienced and five inexperienced) performed several patient handling tasks. The patient transfers were between bed and wheelchair (fixed and removable arms) and between a commode chair and hospital chair. A "standard" patient (a 50 kg cooperative female; non-weight bearing but had use of upper body) was used in all patient handling tasks. Overall, patient handling was found to be an extremely hazardous job that had substantial risk of causing a low back injury. There was significant risk when transferring the patient with either one or two patient handlers. However, the greatest risk was associated with the one-person transferring techniques. The actual task performed had limited effect on the risk of LBD and the three-dimensional spinal loads. Even the safest of tasks (evaluated in this study) had significant risk. These findings suggest that the only feasible means to control risk would be to provide mechanical lift assists devices.