Dh. Duplessis et al., EFFECT OF SEMIRIGID LUMBOSACRAL ORTHOSIS USE ON OXYGEN-CONSUMPTION DURING REPETITIVE STOOP AND SQUAT LIFTING, Ergonomics, 41(6), 1998, pp. 790-797
The use of back belts in industry has increased despite the lack of sc
ientific evidence supporting their efficacy. The purpose of this study
was to investigate the effect of a semi-rigid lumbosacral orthosis (S
RLSO) on oxygen consumption during 6-min submaximal repetitive lifting
bouts of 10 kg at a lifting frequency of 20 repetitions min(-1). Fift
een healthy subjects (13 men, two women) participated in this study. E
ach subject performed squat and stoop lifting with and without an SRLS
O for a total of four lifting bouts. Lifting bouts were performed in r
andom order. Oxygen consumption during the final minute of each liftin
g bout was used for analysis. A two-way analysis of variance with repe
ated measures was used to analyse the effects of lift and belt conditi
ons. The stoop and squat methods were significantly different, with th
e squat lift requiring 23% more oxygen on average than the stoop lift
for equal bouts of work. No significant difference was found between t
he belt and no belt condition within the same lifting technique and no
interaction was present. These data suggest that an SRLSO does not pa
ssively assist the paravertebral muscles (PVM) in stabilizing the spin
e during submaximal lifting bouts.