title: Movement-based feedback may reduce spinal moments in male workers during lift and lowering tasks.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess if lifting performance can be modified and spine stresses reduced in workers who perform repetitive material-handling jobs in a warehouse environment via a novel real-time, movement-based feedback training protocol.
  
  
  METHODS
  A pre-test/post-test group study design was used with a control group. Data were collected in a warehouse setting and analysed in a university setting. A convenience sample of 22 male warehouse employees was divided equally, based on height and weight, and assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. The experimental group received real-time, performance-based auditory feedback from their calculated moments during lifting or lowering using an electromagnetic tracking system. The electromagnetic tracking system was used to measure the side-bending, flexion and rotation moments during six lifts under four different conditions. A series of repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVA) (one between (Group); one within (Time)) was performed on the average maximum moments from six lifting or lowering cycles for all three directions: side-bending, flexion and rotation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant group x time interactions for the side-bending moment (p < 0.05) and the flexion moment (p < 0.05) but not the rotation moment (p > 0.05). Lower moments were found in the experimental group, which received the training and feedback, compared to the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Real-time, auditory feedback combined with coaching during lifting or lowering tasks may be effective in the short term (six weeks) in reducing the average maximum side-bending and flexion moments in warehouse workers. Further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of this training protocol on low back injury rates.
authors.affiliation: Crosse Institute for Movement Science, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kernozek
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fater
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Durall
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Langenhorst
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019567:Back Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena; D005246:Feedback / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017770:Lifting / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D016272:Occupational Health; D013131:Spine / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D016474:Weight-Bearing / Q000502:physiology