Evaluating a wearable biofeedback device for reducing end-range sagittal lumbar spine flexion among home caregivers.

Caregivers who work in the home environment are at risk of back injury due to the awkward postures they have to adopt while providing care. Real-time biofeedback provided by a recently developed wearable device (PostureCoach) may be able to reduce this risk. The effectiveness of a two-day training intervention (including PostureCoach and an educational video) was evaluated for its ability to decrease the amount of time spent in end-range spine flexion. Twenty novice caregivers repeated a series of simulated care tasks. Real-time auditory biofeedback was provided to the intervention group (n = 10) when participants' sagittal lumbar spine flexion exceeded a preset threshold during training trials. Participants in the control group (n = 10) received no feedback. Participants repeated the tasks again two weeks and two months post-intervention. The intervention group maintained decreased end-range (80th and 95th percentile) spine flexion compared to controls at both post-intervention time points.

Reducing lumbar spine flexion using real-time biofeedback during patient handling tasks.

BACKGROUND: Patient handling activities require caregivers to adopt postures that increase the risk of back injury. Training programs relying primarily on didactic methods have been shown to be ineffective at reducing this risk. The use of real-time biofeedback has potential as an alternative training method. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of real-time biofeedback on time spent by caregivers in end-range lumbar spine flexion. METHODS: Novice participants were divided into intervention (n = 10) and control (n = 10) groups and were asked to perform a set of simulated care activities eight times on two consecutive days. Individuals in the intervention group watched a training video on safer movement strategies and received real-time auditory feedback from a wearable device (PostureCoach) in four training trials whenever their lumbar spine flexion exceeded a threshold (70% of maximum flexion). Changes in end-range lumbar spine flexion were compared between groups and across trials. RESULTS: Participants in the intervention group saw reductions in end-range lumbar spine flexion during the simulated patient handling tasks at the end of the training compared to their baseline trials while there was no change for the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The training program including PostureCoach has the potential to help caregivers learn to use safer postures that reduce the risk of back injury.