Section 2: Focus- Facts about Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Facts about Back Injuries

According to the Center on an Aging Society, “back pain is the leading cause of work limitations among adults ages 18 to 64,” and back pain is the sixth most expensive health care condition in the United States.¹ Back injuries are the second most common disability reported by farmers/ranchers receiving services from AgrAbility.² Pain resulting from a back injury frequently limits an individual’s ability to perform everyday work activities. On the farm, where everyday activities are often dictated by crop conditions and weather, having time pressure in addition to a back injury can place a farmer/rancher at a higher risk for acquiring secondary injuries.

Preventing back injuries is acknowledged as the nation’s number one workplace safety problem.³ Back injuries, however, are just one type of “work-related musculoskeletal disorders” (WMSDs) that are common when there is repeated exposure to physical tasks like those present in many farm/ranch environments.⁴ Many times, the implementation of proper ergonomic principles (e.g., redesigning the work process, tools, etc.) can greatly help to reduce the incidence of WMSDs.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) website⁵ publishes information on ergonomic principles as well as related resources that explain proper lifting, bending, and carrying techniques targeted at preventing back injuries. The Work Practices Guide for Manual Lifting⁶ was developed, in part, to provide one unified set of lifting recommendations. Employers can evaluate their lifting tasks against this NIOSH guide and implement steps to control lifting-related back injuries. For example, if your client’s job required lifting and carrying 50 pound feedbags on a loading dock over an eight hour day, then the Work Practices Guide could help you determine if this activity was within acceptable limits. The Work Practices Guide was revised in January 1994. Another NIOSH resource targeted at improving ergonomics for farm workers is titled Simple Solutions.⁴ This document includes several simple ergonomic solutions that could be applied for any size farm/ranch.

The U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet⁷ suggests other ways for employers and employees to work together to help prevent back injuries. The Fact Sheet suggests developing controls from both administrative and engineering perspectives for tasks that require lifting. For example, administrative controls include such things as:

understanding a workers’ strength and not exceeding it,
proper training on how to perform lifts, and
stretching and conditioning programs related to work tasks.

Engineering controls include such things as:

reducing the size and weight of the object to be lifted,
proper positioning (between knee and shoulder height) of objects to be lifted, and
replacing “manual lifting” with mechanical devices when possible.

The old adage “prevention is the best medicine” holds equally true for back injuries. Everyone should take the time to review the ten simple steps towards back injury prevention published on the AgSafe website.⁷

References

Center on an Aging Society. March 31, 2003. Data Profile Alert: Chronic Back Pain, A Leading cause of work limitations. Georgetown University’s Institute for Health Care Research & Policy. www.aging-society.org.
2001-2002 National AgrAbility Client Demographics.
The U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet No. OSHA 89-09. www.safetyinfocur.com/factsheets/OSHA8909.html.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). February 2001. Simple Solutions: Ergonomics for Farm Workers. Publication No. 2001-111. www.cdc.gov/niosh/01-111pd.html.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). March 1981 – July 2003. Work Practices Guide for Manual Lifting. www.hazardcontrol.com/ml-niosh81.html.
AgSafe. Ag Safety Training Materials: Back Injury Prevention. www.agsafe.org/Products/Series2/BackInjury.htm.
AT Journal. June 2002. Hoe, Hoe, Hoe - Gardening is for Everyone. Vol. 50. www.atnet.org/news/jun02/060102.html.

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In This Issue
Section 1: Back Injury Motivates Wisconsin Man’s Move to Farming Section 2: Facts about Back Injuries Section 3: Back Saving Assistive Technology Solutions	Section 4: AgrAbility of Wisconsin – Collaboration Leads to Success Section 5: Resources Section 6: Contacts