ABSTRACT
According to occupational injury statistics, nursing care belongs to risk group with a high frequency of reported back injuries. To reduce the high prevalence of low-back pain among this group, one possible method is to use a human support instrument. There are four main reasons of low-back pain in the nursing care according to the literature. The authors discuss various possible methods for prevention against low-back pain on the basis of the biomachanics model and developed the nursing care instrument based on the working characteristics of nursing assistants. We adopt a proportional flow and directional valve and a cylinder to build up a position and/or force following control system which can automatically follow the user's will.
