title: Loading of the lumbar spine during backpack carriage.
abstract: Backpack carriage is significantly associated with a higher prevalence of low back pain. Elevated compression and shear forces in the lumbar intervertebral discs are known risk factors. A novel method of calculating the loads in the lumbar spine during backpack carriage is presented by combining physical and numerical modelling. The results revealed that to predict realistic lumbar compression forces, subject-specific lumbar curvature data were not necessary for loads up to 40 kg. In contrast, regarding shear forces, using subject-specific lumbar curvature data from upright MRI measurements as input for the rigid body model significantly altered lumbar joint force estimates.
authors.affiliation: a Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , St. Gallen , Switzerland.|b Institute for Biomechanics , ETH Zurich , Zürich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patrick D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Wettenschwiler
authors.affiliation: b Institute for Biomechanics , ETH Zurich , Zürich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lorenzetti
authors.affiliation: b Institute for Biomechanics , ETH Zurich , Zürich , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: a Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , St. Gallen , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stämpfli
authors.affiliation: c Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , Dübendorf , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ameet K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Aiyangar
authors.affiliation: a Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , St. Gallen , Switzerland.
authors.forename: René M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: a Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology , St. Gallen , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Annaheim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D019245:Compressive Strength; D006801:Humans; D007403:Intervertebral Disc / Q000502:physiology; D007596:Joints / Q000502:physiology; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011312:Pressure; D016474:Weight-Bearing
keywords: Low back pain; backpack carriage; lumbar compression; lumbar curvature; lumbar shear