Abstract
Work—related low back disorders arise from a complex interaction of events. One aspect of interest is cyclic or repetitive tasks, which are performed on a daily basis in a variety of situations, and often for extended periods of time. The specific questions to be addressed in this study are the effects of the load frequency and time-dependent material properties on the lumbar spine component behavior. The newly developed and validated, subject specific, finite element model of lumbar spine is used in conjunction with kinematic data imported from human subjects experimental testing of repetitive sagittally-symmetric lifting and lowering tasks. Creep and energy dissipation in the lumbar spine components are used to quantify the effect of lifting frequency and velocity on the potential for injury over an eight-hour workday.
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