THE BIOMECHANICS OF LOW-BACK INJURY - IMPLICATIONS ON CURRENT PRACTICE IN INDUSTRY AND THE CLINIC

The purpose of this paper is to introduce some concepts of low back in jury for use towards developing better injury risk reduction strategie s and advancing rehabilitation of the injured spine. Selected issues i n low back injury are briefly reviewed and discussed, specifically, th e types of tissue loads that cause low back injury, methods to investi gate tissue loading, and issues which are important considerations whe n formulating injury avoidance strategies such as spine posture, and p rolonged loading of tissues over time. Finally, some thoughts on curre nt practice are expressed to stimulate discussion on directions for in jury reduction efforts in the future, particularly, the way in which i njuries are reported, the use of simple indices of risk such as load m agnitude, assessment of the injury and development of injury avoidance strategies. This paper was written for a general biomechanics audienc e and not specifically for those who are spine specialists. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science Ltd.