ABSTRACT
Occupationally related low back disorders (LBD) are typically the leading cause of lost work days as well as the most costly occupational health problem facing industry today. Statistics gathered from industry have made it clear that occupationally related LBD risk is associated with manual materials handling (MMH) tasks such as lifting lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying and performing tasks in non-neutral postures. Until recently tools were available that could biomechanically analyze jobs for workers performing tasks in static postures. This greatly reduced the applicability of the models to realistic work tasks observed in industrial settings. This chapter will show how biomechanical analyses can be performed to assess spine loading during realistic, dynamic task activity of the spine.
