Assessing Musculoskeletal Injury Risk in Hospital Healthcare Professionals During a Single Daily Patient-Handling Task

Xiaoxu Ji (), Thomaz Ahualli de Sanctis, Mahmoud Alwahkyan, Xin Gao, Jenna Miller and Sarah Thomas
Additional contact information
Xiaoxu Ji: The Department of Biomedical Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gannon University, Erie, PA 16541, USA
Thomaz Ahualli de Sanctis: The Department of Biomedical Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gannon University, Erie, PA 16541, USA
Mahmoud Alwahkyan: The Department of Biomedical Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gannon University, Erie, PA 16541, USA
Xin Gao: The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gannon University, Erie, PA 16541, USA
Jenna Miller: The Department of Biomedical Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gannon University, Erie, PA 16541, USA
Sarah Thomas: The Department of Biomedical Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gannon University, Erie, PA 16541, USA

Data, 2025, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: Background: Healthcare professionals are at significant risk of musculoskeletal injuries due to the physically demanding nature of patient-handling tasks. While various ergonomic interventions have been introduced to mitigate these risks, comprehensive methods for assessing and addressing musculoskeletal hazards remain limited. Purpose: This study presents a novel approach to evaluating musculoskeletal injury risks among healthcare workers, marking the first instance in which two motion tracking systems are used simultaneously. This dual-system setup enables a more comprehensive and dynamic analysis of worker interactions in real time. Healthcare professionals were divided into three groups to perform patient transfer tasks. Three key poses within the task, associated with peak lumbar forces, were identified and analyzed. Results: The resulting compressive forces on the participants’ lower back ranged from 581.0 N to 3589.1 N, and the Anterior–Posterior (A/P) shear forces ranged from 33.1 N to 912.3 N across the three poses. Relative differences in trunk flexion showed strong correlations with compressive and A/P shear forces at each pose, respectively. Discussion and conclusion: Strong associations were found between lumbar loads and participant’s anthropometrics. Recommendations for optimal postures and partner pairings were developed to help reduce the risk of lower back injuries during patient handling.

Keywords: healthcare; musculoskeletal; injury; patient transfer; lumbar forces; motion tracking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 C80 C81 C82 C83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/10/10/160/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/10/10/160/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jdataj:v:10:y:2025:i:10:p:160-:d:1766685

Access Statistics for this article

Data is currently edited by Ms. Becky Zhang

More articles in Data from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().