Effectiveness evaluation of waist support tool through human posture balance

A lot of carrying workers wonder whether it is good to wear a waist support tool to protect the waist or not. Although the qualitative analysis of waist support tool is generally used for the evaluation, there is not yet the evaluation of quantitative analysis. In this paper, we proposed the method of quantitative analysis in order to evaluate the effectiveness of waist support tool through human postural balance. Through we measured the trace of Center of Pressure (CoP) by using the Wii balance board, we proposed the method to estimate the bending angle and sway angle of human upper body through the analysis of the human balance. Through the analysis, we found that the participant under the condition of wearing the waist support tool had the initial smaller bending angle, and he also had the smaller sway angle during lifting the load. That meant that the waist support tool helped the initial bending motion, and also the participant made less from side to side.

I. Introduction

Lower back pain is an enormously expensive problem and accounts for a quarter of all payments for workers' compensation claims. Back pain is the second most common reason for visiting a doctor, after flu and colds. In order to deal with the problem, many employers, and employees, have chosen back belts to provide support to the lumbar region of the spine. Is the truth is that wearing an elastic or other support around your waist helps your back? A new study that found workers who routinely wear these support belts while working at Wal-Mart, were just as likely to injure their backs as those who did not [1]~[5]. However, some previous studies have shown back belts to prevent injuries, such as the UCLA study conducted with Home Depot workers, which found a 1/3 decrease in back injuries due to wearing back belts [6]. Whether wearing such a back belt will prevent back problems is controversial. Here, we have a question how the human proper posture is affected by the waist support tool. Although the qualitative analysis of waist support tool is generally used for the evaluation, there is not yet the evaluation of quantitative analysis. Figure 1.

The experimental system in order to evaluate the effectiveness of waist support tool.