Ready to take on some heavy lifting? Don’t be afraid to bend the rules

New study argues that a rounded back is more efficient and just as safe as keeping a straight posture

“KEEP your back straight, bend your knees” has always been the strict exhortation for anyone lifting heavy objects.

However, people may have to disregard this previously sacrosanct advice after a group of scientists called for a review of the accepted guidelines, claiming the technique is based on scant reliable evidence and may even be inferior to a bent back approach.

A new study argues that while most people instinctively believe lifting with a straight back is common sense, “round-back lifting” is more efficient and no more hazardous.

Published in the Scandinavian Journal of Pain, it points to research conducted on forestry workers which found that those who stooped to pick up their loads expended less energy than those who squatted. The paper also argues there is “no significant difference” in spinal loads and compression forces between the two postures.

Despite the lack of evidence supporting a straight back lifting technique, it is commonly believed to be the safest method and is taught to nearly every employee in the country upon joining a new company.

The NHS website states people should not bend their backs while lifting, while advice from the Health and Safety Executive recommends people squat so their thighs are parallel with the ground before lifting a load, limiting any bending to a small amount at the top of the back.

“Recent studies indicate there is a lack of in vivo (real life) evidence that supports the notion of using a “straightback” in preference to a “round-back” to reduce risk of LBP (low back pain),” the researchers at Curtin University in Australia wrote. They added: “The findings of this study may have implications for ergonomic guidelines and public health information relating to bending and lifting back postures.”

It follows experiments conducted at Aberdeen University which suggested that lifting technique should be determined by the shape of the spine.

Prof Richard Aspden, who led the study, asked: “We’re clearly not all the same, so should guidelines be telling us to lift in the same way?”

Back pain, a significant proportion of which is caused by injury, is estimated to cost thousands of days of lost productivity each year. However, experts have claimed this figure is unnecessarily high due in part to GPs’ readiness to send patients for surgery.

A review published in The Lancet earlier this year prompted the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy to call for “serious reflection” among doctors.

Most cases of lower back pain respond to simple physical and psychological therapies aimed at keeping people active and able to stay in work.