Effects of unexpected lateral mass placement on trunk loading in lifting.
METHODS
A repeated measurements experiment of spinal loading in healthy subjects.


OBJECTIVE
To test whether unexpected lateral mass placement increases low back loading and trunk movement when subjects are lifting a mass in upright posture.


BACKGROUND
Epidemiologic studies suggest that sudden, unexpected loading will lead to low back pain. Also, asymmetric loading is considered to be harmful to the spine. It can be anticipated that unexpected asymmetric loading will increase the risk of injury even more.


METHODS
Ten subjects lifted in an upright posture a crate, in which a mass of 10 kg was placed laterally at the left side either expectedly or unexpectedly. The crate reaction forces, body movements, and trunk muscle activity were measured. From these, the L5-S1 net moments and muscle forces were estimated.


RESULTS
Unexpected lateral placement of the mass caused no clear increase in peak low back loading. The stiffness of the trunk was lower in the unexpected condition, which, in combination with inadequate net moments produced, resulted in movement of the trunk to the side of the displaced mass.


CONCLUSIONS
Unexpected lateral mass placement does not increase the compression force. Perturbed trunk movement and lower muscle forces indicated a decreased stability of the spine, which may imply an injury risk.
van der Burg
J C E
JC
Institute for Fundamental and Clinical Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. P_van_der_Burg@fbw.vu.nl
Kingma
Idsart
I
van Dieën
Jaap H
JH
D000328:Adult; D001415:Back / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D006801:Humans; D017770:Lifting; D008161:Lumbosacral Region / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D013131:Spine / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D016474:Weight-Bearing / Q000502:physiology