Calculating internal forces in the spinal column through inverse dynamics technique

Abstract

For the purpose of calculating the internal forces that act on the lumbar spine during lifting activity, four lifting techniques (LTs) were performed by ten subjects, at a controlled speed. During the experiment, dynamometric and 2D kinemetric data were collected simultaneously. The resulting joint force (JF) between L5/S1 and muscular force (MF) of the vertebral column erector muscle group were calculated using the inverse dynamic technique. ANOVA repeated measures were used to compare the maximum JF and MF values. Our findings indicate that the inverse dynamic technique was able to estimate the forces acting on the spinal column and that there was no significant difference between the JF and MF in the four LTs. Hence, no evidence was found to favor one lifting technique or the other.