[The epidemiology of musculoskeletal changes due to biomechanical overload of the spine in the manual lifting of patients]

Abstract

The painful lumbosacral symptoms associated with manual lifting by nursing staff constitutes an increasingly important problem in Occupational Health. This category of workers is in fact particularly exposed to risk situations involving the lumbar region of the spine, due especially to the extreme variability of work on the shift, the nature of what is lifted and not always sufficient knowledge and proper performance of the movements. On the basis of a review of a series of studies made on this topic, it was possible to assess the incidence and prevalence of low back pain in selected populations and identify the postural risk to which nursing staff are exposed at work, stressing also the importance of a correct knowledge of manual lifting techniques, frequency and mode of performing them, and the psychological aspects (perception of the intensity of tasks and osteoarticular strain). It was also observed that the data on painful lumbosacral symptoms were underestimated due to the type of epidemiological investigations carried out (mostly cross-sectional) and that comparison of the data proposed was often difficult due to the different criteria of evaluation used to classify the painful symptoms and also to the various epidemiological parameters used (incidence, cumulative incidence, prevalence).