Biomechanical evaluation of heavy tool-handling in two age groups of firemen.
The biomechanical load of a rescue-clearing task (lifting a power saw from the floor up to the ceiling level) was evaluated with six older (47 +/- 5 years) and seven younger firemen (32 +/- 2 years). The mean dynamic compressive force at the L5/SI disc was 5998 N for the older subjects and 6392 N for the younger subjects. The peak torques for the back and knee extensions were about equal for the two groups of the subjects. The younger subjects had a significantly higher movement speed in the knee extension than the older subjects (89.1 +/- 25.7 vs. 35.3 +/- 11.5 degrees/s, p less than 0.001). The results showed that lifting a power saw produced a high load on the musculoskeletal system, and that the load was not influenced by age.
Lusa
S
S
Department of Physiology, Institute of Occupational Health, Vantaa, Finland.
Louhevaara
V
V
Smolander
J
J
Kinnunen
K
K
Korhonen
O
O
Soukainen
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009129:Muscle Tonus / Q000502:physiology*; D016526:Workload