Material Handling & Lower Back Pain Enzzio Spruyt Physical Therapist Intern – University of South Australia Darren Bayliss Workplace Physical Therapist, Certified Ergonomic Specialist

Material Handling  Any activity that requires the use of force exerted by a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any animate or inanimate object.

Back Facts  Back injury is not a bodyweight or lifting issue. Focus on body mechanics, posture habits, and physical fitness.

 The single most crucial impact of low back pain is on ability to work.

Studies find that only 2 things truly aid the person with back pain: 1. Exercise, to promote strength, flexibility and endurance 2. Education about the proper way to sit, stand, lift and carry.

 64% who report no back pain show abnormal disks with an MRI.

 A study shows the 68% of 65 studies showed no correlation between obesity and back pain.

Anatomy of the Lower Back  5 vertebrae L1-L5  5 intervertebral discs  5 pair of exiting nerve roots

PUSH & PULL  Is Pushing easier than Pulling?

CARRYING  How do we carry objects in a way whereby we can reduce the risk of injuries?

 Who is my volunteer?

 There is no one way to lift; you must rethink the “traditional” lifting thought processes for true success, which may explain why people continue to injure themselves despite learning the “proper” lifting techniques. LIFTING

 Lifting is variable and not structured as traditionally taught.

 Understand that lifting is a 3 dimensional, bottom up and top down, all 70 joints, 400 muscles loading and exploding functional activity.

 Typically the symptoms are not where the cause and compensations are with lifting injuries.

 High arched feet can cause “back overloading”; solve the foot problem to decrease the back loading affects which can lend to safer lifting.

 Who are my volunteers?

Contact Darren Bayliss, P.T., CEAS Workplace Physical Therapist Certified Ergonomic Specialist Injury Prevention Trainer -