Working in hazardous trunk postures: Preliminary findings from patient care unit and construction worker pilot studies

Objective: While patient care unit (PCU) and construction workers are employed in physically demanding jobs that involve increased trunk flexion and can lead to musculoskeletal pain, few studies have directly measured trunk flexion during work hours. Therefore, we objectively assessed and compared trunk postures adopted at work by construction and PCU workers.

Methods: An inclinometer device (G-Link Data Loggers; Microstrain, Inc; Williston, VT, USA) mounted on the worker's back collected information on trunk flexion during an 8-12 hour single-day work shift from a convenience sample of PCU workers (n=48; from two acute care hospitals in 2011) and of construction workers (currently n=11; goal n= 60 by March 2013 from 5 commercial sites). Trunk flexion was categorized into 4 groups: (1) <-10°, (2) >-10°–20°, (3) >20°–45°, and (4) >45°. We calculated the time (duration) in each category and the frequency of bending per hour within categories.

Results: PCU workers had trunk flexion while at work on average of 3% at <-10˚, 74% at -10˚ to 20˚, 19% at >20˚ to 45˚ and 5% at >45˚ during a single shift. Preliminarily, for the 11 construction workers collected so far, trunk flexion while at work, averaged 6% at <-10˚, 80% at -10˚ to 20˚, 10% at >20˚ to 45˚ and 4% at >45˚ during a single shift.

Conclusion: Preliminary results suggest that PCU and construction workers adopt hazardous trunk postures for long time periods while at work.