 back injuries result from damage, wear, or trauma to the bones, muscles, or other tissues of the back. common back injuries include sprains and strains, herniated disks, and fractured vertebrae."back injuries". medlineplus. u.s. national library of medicine and national institutes of health. july 2, 2009. accessed july 15, 2009. the lumbar is often the site of back pain. the area is susceptible because of its flexibility and the amount of body weight it regularly bears.shiel, william c. "lower back pain". medicinenet.com. jan 22, 2008. it is estimated that low-back pain may affect as much as 80 to 90 percent of the general population in the united states.putz-anderson, vern, thomas waters, and arun garg. (1994). applications manual for the revised niosh lifting equation. national institute for occupational safety and health. niosh (dhhs) publication 94â110. low-back pain is often the result of incorrect lifting methods and posture. repetitive lifting, bending, and twisting motions of the torso affect both the degree of severity and frequency of low-back pain. in addition, low-back pain may also be the result of bad lifting habits. sedentary lifestyles most often lead to weak abdominal muscles and hamstrings. this causes the stronger muscles which have remained strong to pull the body away from its optimal anatomical form. the imbalanced muscles cause people to continue to perform these repetitive actions. this results in misplaced force application within the spine, often resulting in hemorrhage of disks within the spinal column. ==back injuries and lifting== ===calculating injury-free lifting capabilities=== one equation, known as the niosh lifting equation, provides a method for determining two weight limits associated with two levels of back injury risk. the first limit is called an action limit (al), which represents a weight limit above which a small portion of the population may experience increased risk of injury if they are not trained to perform the lifting task. the second limit, called the maximum permissible limit (mpl) is calculated as three times the action limit. this weight limit represents a lifting condition at which most people would experience a high risk of back injury. the recommended weight limit (rwl) is the load value for a specific lifting task that nearly all healthy workers could perform for a substantial period of time without an increased risk of developing lifting-related low-back pain and is calculated as follows. rwl = lc Ã hm Ã vm Ã dm Ã am Ã fm Ã cm where lc â load constant. defines the maximum recommended weight for lifting under optimal conditions, such as symmetrical lifting position with no torso twisting, occasional lifting, good coupling, 1 â likely to pose an increased risk f
Injuries_of_abdomen,_lower_back,_lumbar_spine_and_pelvis