This study aimed to determine the effect of physiotherapists' physical burden caused by different bed heights during manual therapy. Thirty-three male physiotherapists performed tasks simulating lumbar massage and passive hip abduction range-of-motion exercise (ROM) on the beds with low height (LH) and adjusted height (AH)
with each task performed three times. The anterior inclination angle of the physiotherapist's trunk was measured
the surface electromyograms of the erector spinae and trapezius muscles were recorded
and perceived stress was assessed. The indexes obtained were statistically compared for different bed heights. Additionally
the lumbar disc compression force and flexion torque were estimated. The lumbar burden caused by the excessive bending and the biomechanical burden and perceived stress were stronger at LH than AH. In ROM tasks using the right hand
the muscle activity was lower at the left lumbar region at LH than at AH. At LH
the anterior inclination angle increased and the lumbar muscle activity declined as the number of tasks increased. The burden on the shoulders was not significantly different by bed heights. Our results showed that
when physiotherapists perform manual therapy
it is necessary to adjust the bed height to reduce physical burden and ensure higher quality of service. Key words: Physiotherapist
Physical burden
Bed height
Manual therapy
Trunk anterior inclination angle
Surface electromyogram
Lumbar disc compression force
Lumbar flexion torque
