ABSTRACT
Back pain disorders are a leading cause of lost workdays in the industrialized world and represent one of the most costly occupational health problems today. Reducing the risk of back-pain caused or exacerbated by conditions in the workplace continues to be an important service provided by ergonomists and human factors engineers worldwide. Risk of work related back disorders are known to be associated with physical work, personal health factors, and the psychosocial dynamics of a workplace. However, the exact source of back pain is often difficult to identify. Persistent back pain is likely to be caused by structural damage or degeneration in one or more motion segments of the spine. It is believed that a number of factors can contribute to structural damage of the spine. These include constant forward bending, twisting, and repetitive heavy lifting, carrying and pushing objects, asymmetric trunk loading, and inappropriate posture during the day (Eklund & Corlett, 1984; Garbutt, Boocock & Reilly, 1990; Beynon & Reilly, 2001). It has been suggested that back disorders might be viewed as a progression of events in which repetitive and constant loading applied on the spinal column represents the beginning stage of a degeneration process that ultimately results in back pain (Marras et al., 2001).
