EFFECT OF SEMIRIGID LUMBOSACRAL ORTHOSIS USE ON OXYGEN-CONSUMPTION DURING REPETITIVE STOOP AND SQUAT LIFTING

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.