Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
5-7-2021
Year of Publication
2021
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering
Document Type
Master's Thesis
College
Engineering
Department/School/Program
Biomedical Engineering
First Advisor
Dr. Babak Bazrgari
Abstract
Low back pain (LBP) is a significant issue related to spinal stability and, therefore, to trunk stiffness. Due to the nature of their work, nursing personnel are exposed to potential risk factors for LBP, such as lifting and trunk flexion, which have been reported in the literature to lead to decreases in trunk stiffness. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to investigate potential occupational effects on the trunk stiffness in nursing personnel. Twenty-four nursing personnel participated in this study and completed two sessions (pre-shift and post-shift) during which two passive flexion tests (with and without an ~7.5-lb load) were conducted to characterize their trunk stiffness in upright standing. Overall, no work-related changes in trunk stiffness were found in this study. However, trunk stiffness was higher for the loading condition with the load being held in the subjects’ hands than for the condition without this load (p=0.002). Finding no work-related changes in trunk stiffness may have resulted from the heterogeneity of the recruited sample of nursing personnel and the potential recovery of trunk stiffness before their post-shift data collection sessions. Future studies should try to reduce participant heterogeneity and perform data collection closer to where the participants work.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.137
Funding Information
Funding for this study was provided by a small grant from the University of Kentucky Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) (2018-2020).
Recommended Citation
Tyler, Clare, "WORK-RELATED CHANGES IN THE TRUNK STIFFNESS OF NURSING PERSONNEL" (2021). Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering. 67.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cbme_etds/67
