Acute low back pain in health care workers with tasks involving manual lifting of patients

This article describes the results of a university hospital research about low back pain incidence in health care workers with tasks involving manual lifting of patients and risk assessment. To evaluate the exposure to this specific risk the authors used a concise index (MAPO index) set up by the EPM (Ergonomics of Posture and Movement) Research Unit in Milan. Low back pain data was obtained from a questionnaire. This study confirmed that the phenomenon is more significant in the wards with greater disabled patients load. Moreover a direct correlation between low back pain episodes a high incidence in some wards and the presence of elevated risk values was observed.