A study on visualizing the twist and the load on the lumbar region in nursing care

Most nurses suffer from lower back pain (LBP). The load on the lumbar region in nursing practice depends on patient's condition and situation. So we regard it as the load of nursing practice, and suggest visualizing the load on the lumbar region for nursing management. This study focuses on "twist" which is one of factors of LBP. We measured the twist angle of the lumbar region and the surface electromyogram (EMG) in three methods of transferring a patient from a bed to a wheelchair. Experimental subjects were seven women in their 20s and 30s who had learned the transferring technique. Measurement was performed using TRIAS system software (DKH Co., Ltd., Japan). The obtained signal data were analyzed using software (Matlab; The MathWorks, Inc.). We compared three methods, each of which was divided into four motions according to the experimental purpose. Results of visualizing the differences of the load on the lumbar region by twist angle, twist angular velocity and twist angular acceleration in each method could indicate nursing practice of the less load.