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Relationships of low back outcomes to internal spinal load: a prospective cohort study of professional drivers

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the relationships between low back symptoms and alternative measures of external dose and internal spinal dose in professional drivers exposed to whole body vibration (WBV).

Methods

The occurrence of low back symptoms was investigated in a cohort of 537 drivers over a 2-year follow-up period. Low back pain (LBP), individual characteristics, and work-related risk factors were investigated with a structured questionnaire. Exposure to WBV was evaluated by means of measures of external dose (daily vibration exposure in terms of either equivalent continuous acceleration over an 8-h period (A(8)) or vibration dose value according to the EU Directive on mechanical vibration) and measures of internal lumbar load (daily compressive dose S ed and risk factor R according to ISO/CD 2631-5 2014).

Results

In the drivers’ cohort, the cumulative incidence of 12-month low back outcomes was 16.8 % for LBP, 9.3 % for chronic LBP, and 21.8 % for sciatic pain. The measures of internal spinal load were better predictors of the occurrence of low back symptoms than the measures of daily vibration exposure. A twofold increase in the risk estimates for low back outcomes was found in the upper quartile of the R factor (0.41–0.72 units) compared to the lower one (0.07–0.19 units).

Conclusions

In this prospective cohort study, measures of internal spinal dose performed better than measures of daily vibration exposure (external dose) for the prediction of low back outcomes in professional drivers. The ISO boundary values of the risk factor R for low and high probabilities of adverse health effects on the lumbar spine tend to underestimate the health risk in professional drivers.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the European Commission under the Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources programme—Project No. QLK4-2002-02650 (VIBRISKS), and by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Germany—Research Project F 2257. The authors thank Barbara Hinz, Jörg Hofmann, and Iole Pinto for the critical view of the manuscript, the support for the application of the FE models, and the measurement and check of the acceleration time histories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Unit of Occupational Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Trieste, Centro Tumori, Via della Pietà 19, 34129, Trieste, Italy

    Massimo Bovenzi, Andrea Prodi & Marcella Mauro

  2. Unit Experimental Research on Occupational Health, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Nöldnerstraße 40-42, 10317, Berlin, Germany

    Marianne Schust & Gerhard Menzel

Authors
  1. Massimo Bovenzi
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  2. Marianne Schust
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  3. Gerhard Menzel
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  4. Andrea Prodi
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  5. Marcella Mauro
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Correspondence to Massimo Bovenzi.

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Bovenzi, M., Schust, M., Menzel, G. et al. Relationships of low back outcomes to internal spinal load: a prospective cohort study of professional drivers. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 88, 487–499 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-014-0976-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-014-0976-z

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