Whole-body vibration and the risk of low back pain and sciatica: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Burström, Lage; Nilsson, Tohr; Wahlström, Jens

doi:10.1007/s00420-014-0971-4

Cited by 158 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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Section: Low Back Pain and Sciaticamentioning

confidence: 86%

“…In the same analysis, a summary POR of 1.67 (95% CI 1.25-2.23) was found for 12-month prevalence of sciatic pain in the professional drivers. Earlier meta-analyses have similarly found an excess risk of LBP and sciatic pain in professional drivers [42,58,59,60].Driving involves exposure not only to WBV but also to several ergonomic risk factors which can affect the spine, such as prolonged sitting in a constrained posture (which raises intradiscal pressure) and frequent twisting with a non-neutral trunk position (e.g. looking behind when manoeuvring a fork-lift truck).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Rheumatic effects of vibration at work

Palmer

Bovenzi

2015

Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology

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Occupational exposures to vibration come in many guises and are very common at a population level. It follows that an important minority of working-aged patients seen by medical services will have been exposed to this hazard of employment. Vibration can cause human health effects which may manifest in the patients that rheumatologists see. In this chapter we identify the health effects of relevance to them, and review their epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, and vocational and clinical management. On either side of this, we describe the nature and assessment of the hazard, the scale and common patterns of exposure to vibration in the community, and the legal basis for controlling health risks, and comment on the role of health surveillance in detecting early adverse effects and what can be done to prevent the rheumatic effects of vibration at work. Keywords vibration; occupation; Raynaud's; back pain; carpal tunnel syndrome The nature and measurement of vibration at workVibration is an oscillatory motion, characterised by the frequency of the oscillatory cycle, its magnitude, and its direction. Its potential to cause injury is believed to relate to the average intensity of energy imparted to tissues.The magnitude of oscillatory motion can be quantified in terms of its maximum displacement or velocity, but is normally expressed in terms of its acceleration, and timeaveraged (the so-called 'root mean square (r.m.s.) magnitude'). The frequency of motion is expressed in cycles per second (Hertz). Biodynamic investigations have shown that the response of the body to vibration is frequency dependent and to account for this, standards for exposure evaluation weight the frequencies of measured vibration according to the assumed effects at each frequency. Frequency weightings are applied to measurements taken Conflict of interestNone. Europe PMC Funders Group Europe PMC Funders Author ManuscriptsEurope PMC Funders Author Manuscripts in three axes at right angles to one another, sited at the boundary between the body and the vibration (e.g. using accelerometers mounted on the handle of a powered tool or the seat of a vibrating vehicle). 'Dose' of vibration is based on specific relations between duration of exposure and vibration magnitude defined in ISO standards [1,2], allowing the daily vibration exposure to be re-expressed in terms of the equivalent acceleration that would impart the same energy over an 8-hour reference period (a notional average working day). This is called the A (8 Health surveillance is required for workers who remain regularly exposed above the EAV. These values have been translated into guidelines based upon typical patterns of exposure. For example, use of hammer-action tools for >1 hour/day, or of some rotary-action tools for >2 hours/day regularly is likely to exceed the ELV for HTV and the EAV may be breached by as little as 15 minutes/day of exposure to certain hammer-action tools [5]. (Some employers employ a 'traffic light' labelling syste...

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Section: Low Back Pain and Sciaticamentioning

confidence: 86%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rheumatic effects of vibration at work

Palmer

Bovenzi

2015

Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology

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“…In the case of female mining vehicle drivers, no previous studies have been conducted that have reported on the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. A review of the available literature has shown that the range of the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders affecting the lower back among drivers of different vehicles varies widely, from 30% to 85%, between the studies carried out [1,2]. The discrepancies between the studies of professional drivers might be due to differences in the design of the study, the characteristics of the study populations and the definition of LBP outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Long-term occupational exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) is associated with an increased prevalence of self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms, especially low back pain (LBP) [1][2][3]. The contribution of WBV to those health problems is not fully understood, and it appears that the occurrence and severity of musculoskeletal symptoms is influenced by several factors, such as the nature of exposure to vibration, type of machinery and work process, environmental conditions, and biodynamic and ergonomic factors [4][5][6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musculoskeletal symptoms and exposure to whole-body vibration among open-pit mine workers in the Arctic

Burström¹,

Aminoff²,

Björ³

et al. 2017

Int J Occup Med Environ Health

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Objectives: This cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried out at 4 open-pit mines in Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden as part of the MineHealth project. The aim has been to compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms between drivers of mining vehicles and non-drivers. Material and Methods: The mine workers were asked whether they had suffered from any musculoskeletal symptoms during the previous 12 months in specified body regions, and to grade the severity of these symptoms during the past month. They were also asked about their daily driving of mining vehicles. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 1323 workers (757 vehicle drivers) and the reported prevalence and severity of symptoms were highest for the lower back, followed by pain in the neck, shoulder and upper back. Drivers in the Nordic mines reported fewer symptoms than non-drivers, while for Russian mine workers the results were the opposite of that. The daily driving of mining vehicles had no significant association with the risk of symptoms. Female drivers indicated a higher prevalence of symptoms as compared to male drivers. Conclusions: The study provided only weak support for the hypothesis that drivers of vehicles reported a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms than non-vehicle drivers. There were marked differences in the prevalence of symptoms among workers in various enterprises, even though the nature of the job tasks was similar. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(4):553-564

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“…Based on available literature reports, it can be concluded that exposure to high levels of WBV is associated with higher risk of low back pain and sciatica (11). Nevertheless, several researchers investigated whether WBV was feasible for patients with chronic low back pain (19,50).…”

Section: Orthopedicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The application of whole-body vibration in physiotherapy – A narrative review

et al. 2016

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Whole-body vibration (WBV) training is a very popular kind of practice in sport, fitness and physiotherapy. This work reviews the current knowledge regarding the use and effectiveness of WBV in the physiotherapy. The discrepancies between different authors' results are probably due to divergence in WBV training protocols. The paperwork clearly showed that despite its ultimate effects, exercises on a vibration platform are safe, feasible, and well tolerated by patients with different disorders. This narrative review should help physiotherapists verify therapy programs regarding patients' exposure to WBV.

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Whole-body vibration and the risk of low back pain and sciatica: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract: This review shows that there is scientific evidence that exposure to WBV increases the risk of LBP and sciatica.

Cited by 158 publications

References 77 publications

Rheumatic effects of vibration at work

Rheumatic effects of vibration at work

Musculoskeletal symptoms and exposure to whole-body vibration among open-pit mine workers in the Arctic

The application of whole-body vibration in physiotherapy – A narrative review

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