Relationship Between Low Back Pain and Manual Lifting Among Care Workers in Special Nursing Homes for the Elderly and the Rate of Introduction of Assistive Devices

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the prevalence of low back pain and the practice of manual lifting among care workers, as well as the rate of introduction of assistive devices for transfer support, in 43 special nursing homes for the elderly. Among the 1,553 care workers surveyed, 14.2% reported experiencing constant low back pain, and 21.9% were engaged in manual lifting care. Among the assistive devices examined, lifts had the lowest introduction rate at 7.6%. Correlation analysis revealed that facilities with a higher number of care workers experiencing back pain also had a higher proportion of staff performing manual lifting. Additionally, the proportion of workers engaged in manual lifting was significantly correlated with all four types of transfer assistive devices analyzed in this study. A multiple regression analysis, using the proportion of manual lifting care providers as the dependent variable, identified the introduction rate of lifts as the only significant predictor. These findings suggest that to reduce the prevalence of manual lifting and to prevent or alleviate low back pain among care workers, it is necessary to promote the introduction of transfer assistive devices, particularly lifts.