An investigation of posture and manual materials handling as risk factors for low back pain in delivery drivers

The prevalence of low back pain symptoms, posture and manual materials handling among delivery drivers was investigated. Information about health history, driving experience, work postures and MMH was obtained from 49 male and 2 female persons who did intra-city deliveries and drove vehicles such as trucks, vans and Lorries, using the Aberdeen Vibration Exposure questionnaire. Twelve of the drivers were observed over a typical work period during which their work postures were recorded once every minute for an accumulated 1-hour period and the tasks performed and loads handled were noted. Data analysis was performed with the statistical package SPSS 10.1 for Windows. Results indicated that in a typical workday, intra-city delivery drivers are exposed to whole body vibration for only relatively short periods of time. For them, postural stress from twisting of the torso and frequent handling of loads, appear to be the main contributors to low back pain. Keywords: Posture, Manual handling, Back pain, Posture, Delivery drivers