The biomechanics of low back injury: implications on current practice in industry and the clinic

The purpose of this paper is to introduce some concepts of low back injury for use towards developing better injury risk reduction strategies and advancing rehabilitation of the injured spine. Selected issues in low back injury are briefly reviewed and discussed, specifically, the types of tissue loads that cause low back injury, methods to investigate tissue loading, and issues which are important considerations when formulating injury avoidance strategies such as spine posture, and prolonged loading of tissues over time. Finally, some thoughts on current practice are expressed to stimulate discussion on directions for injury reduction efforts in the future, particularly, the way in which injuries are reported, the use of simple indices of risk such as load magnitude, assessment of the injury and development of injury avoidance strategies. This paper was written for a general biomechanics audience and not specifically for those who are spine specialists.