Healthcare worker choice and low back force between self-chosen and highest bed height when boosting a patient up in bed

Abstract

Healthcare workers have a high rate of low back injury due to patient handling tasks. These workers receive training in patient handling methods such as adjusting bed height, but often ignore them. In this study, 35 healthcare workers completed patient boosts at a self-chosen bed height and again with the bed in a higher standardised position. Motion capture and force data were collected for analysis. Given the choice, less than half of participants adjusted the bed at all and none of them moved the bed to the highest position (99.1 cm). The self-chosen bed position yielded significantly higher low back force than the higher position at L4-L5 and L5-S1 (p = 0.02, p = 0.01 respectively). Low back forces can be reduced by raising the bed prior to engaging in patient handling tasks, which is a simple step that can reduce forces placed on healthcare workers’ low backs.

Practitioner summary: Healthcare workers experience high rates of low back pain secondary to patient handling tasks. In this cross-sectional crossover study, healthcare workers consistently chose a low bed height when boosting a patient, which resulted in higher low back loads compared to the highest bed height.

Keywords:

• Musculoskeletal disorders
• manual handling
• safety culture
• biomechanics
• health care ergonomics

Acknowledgements

A special thanks to Lauren Adams and Spencer Peterson for contributing their time and expertise for data collection during this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data is available upon request to the corresponding author.