The effect of an elastic lumbar support and soft touch om body sway during an everyday lifting task.

Item

Title
The effect of an elastic lumbar support and soft touch om body sway during an everyday lifting task.
Author(s)
Hanson, C
Abstract
Introduction The effect of an elastic lumbar support and soft touch on body sway was investigated in an experiment involving an everyday lifting task. Several mechanisms of action of lumbar supports have been proposed, yet despite significant research in the field a lack of consensus regarding the both their efficacy and mechanism of action remains. Evidence suggests that an elastic lumbar support reduces trunk motion, and two hypotheses have been proposed to explain its mechanism of action. Firstly, that an it has a passive effect on trunk mobility and secondly, it has a proprioceptive effect on trunk mobility. The latter hypothesis is supported by experiments investigating the effects of soft touch on body sway which suggest that soft touch reduces body sway via somato-sensory, proprioceptive, and motor mechanisms. A small number of studies also suggest that the efficacy of an elastic support may be affected by the characteristics of the individuals who use them. Method A Kistler force platform was used to estimate changes in body sway from recordings of centre of pressure, (COP). Three conditions were used: An ‘elastic support condition’, which involved participants wearing an elastic lumbar support in direct contact with the skin, a ‘bandage condition’ which involved participants wearing a bandage around the waist in direct contact with the skin, and a ‘control condition’ where no additional garment was worn next to the skin. To investigate the hypothesis that body sway is affected by an elastic support during an everyday lifting task, changes in body sway within the three conditions was compared. To investigate the hypothesis that the efficacy of a elastic support varies according to the characteristics of the individual user, two subgroups were defined which categorised participants according to Body Mass Index, (BMI), and exercise frequency. Changes in body sway between the three conditions within the two subgroups was compared. Results Results showed that the use of an elastic support or a crepe bandage worn around the waist did not have a significant effect on body sway during a lifting task compared to the control condition, (p = 0.741). Similarly, neither BMI nor exercise frequency had a significant effect on body sway either between subgroups, ( p = 0.080 ; p = 0.235 respectively), or within conditions, p = 0.845, (overweight / obese group) ; p = 0.741 (healthy BMI group) ; p = 0.914, (low exercise intensity exercise group) ; p = 0.756, (high intensity exercise group). Conclusion The study concluded that there is insufficient evidence to suggest that an elastic support can reduce body sway during an everyday lifting task. These findings are consistent with research in the field which has failed to reach a consensus. However, it could be argued that the existence of two broad subgroups of individual, those that benefit from the use of an elastic support and those that do not , ( based on age, weight, exercise history etc. ), may have had a confounding effect on previous studies, which may provide an explanation for previous conflicting studies. With this in mind, it is recommended that future research investigates the characteristics of those people who benefit from lumbar supports since it may provide a clearer focus for future research and a greater insight as to its mechanism of action.
presented at
European School of Osteopathy
Date Accepted
2014
Date Submitted
20.1.2015 16:43:40
Type
osteo_thesis
Language
English
Submitted by:
62
Pub-Identifier
15498
Inst-Identifier
1229
Keywords
Therapeutic touch, Force platform Sway
Recommended
0
Item sets
Thesis

Hanson, C, “The effect of an elastic lumbar support and soft touch om body sway during an everyday lifting task.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 17, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/666