ARUP; ISBN: 978-0-9562121-5-3 - CMBBE 2012 - Cardiff University

YOUNGER KOREAN MALE AND FEMALE’S BIOMECHANICAL
ANALYSIS FOR LUMBAR SPINAL FORCES
1. ABSTRACT
M. Subramaniyam 1 , S.J. Park 2 , S.B. Oh 3 and S. Park 4
According to estimates, 70-80 % of all people have back pain at some time in life. Back
pain disorders are becoming large socioeconomic burden in Korea especially low back
pain disorders are enormous. The low back pain is a common symptom of
musculoskeletal disorders, of disorders involving the lumbar vertebrae, of disorders
muscle, ligaments, nerves and intervertebral disc related to lumbar. One approach to the
low back pain prevention involves the study of the forces acting on the spine during
manual handling/lifting. This study focused to biomechanically analysis younger
Korean male and female’s lumbar muscle forces and spinal loads during manual lifting
with initial and stooped standing postures. Surface Electromyography(sEMG)
experiment was performed to measure the muscle activities of lumbar erector spine and
multifidus, the measured muscle activities are MF, MPF, RMS mean and RMS peak.
For the sEMG experiment, total of forty healthy younger Korean male and females were
considered. The lumbar spinal loads such as moment, compression and joint shear for
the postures were obtained with Digital Korean Model. During material handling/lifting,
0, 10, 20 and 30 degree angles were considered for stooping posture with symmetrical
hand loads 0, 6.5, 11.5 and 16.5kg. The study will be providing the guideline to know
how much load Korean adults can carry without affecting their back, to know whether
carrying load is within the limit and to know the effects on L4/L5 for a particular load,
percentile and posture.
2. INTRODUCTION
Human spine as a load bearing structure consists of intervertebral discs, vertebras and
supporting muscles and ligaments. Each of these plays a very important role in the
stability of the back, and in general any abnormal conditions may cause low back pain
(LBP). The LBP and related disorders may arise from the wide range of motion in the
lumbar spine, improper posture during the lifting of heavy objects, or maintaining an
irregular posture for a long period of time [1, 2]. About two-thirds of the adult
population suffers from LBP at some time [3, 4]. Although up to 85% of LBP has no
known causes, scientific evidence indicates that non-specific LBP is basically an agerelated
disorder that is affected by difference in occupation, genetics, and personal
1
Research Scientist, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, 1 Doryong-Dong, Yuseong-Gu,
Daejeon 305-340, Rep. of Korea
2
Director, Division of Convergence Technology, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, 1
Doryong-Dong, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon 305-340, Rep. of Korea
3
Research Scientist, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, 1 Doryong-Dong, Yuseong-Gu,
Daejeon 305-340, Rep. of Korea
4
Professor, Department of Mechanical Design Engineering, Chungnam National University, 79
Daehangno, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, 305-764, Rep. of Korea.