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SPEXOR passive spinal exoskeleton decreases metabolic cost during symmetric repetitive lifting

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Besides mechanical loading of the back, physiological strain is an important risk factor for low-back pain. Recently a passive exoskeleton (SPEXOR) has been developed to reduce loading on the low back. We aimed to assess the effect of this device on metabolic cost of repetitive lifting. To explain potential effects, we assessed kinematics, mechanical joint work, and back muscle activity.

Methods

We recruited ten male employees, working in the luggage handling department of an airline company and having ample experience with lifting tasks at work. Metabolic cost, kinematics, mechanical joint work and muscle activity were measured during a 5-min repetitive lifting task. Participants had to lift and lower a box of 10 kg from ankle height with and without the exoskeleton.

Results

Metabolic cost was significantly reduced by 18% when wearing the exoskeleton. Kinematics did not change significantly, while muscle activity decreased by up to 16%. The exoskeleton took over 18–25% of joint work at the hip and L5S1 joints. However, due to large variation in individual responses, we did not find a significant reduction of joint work around the individual joints.

Conclusion

Wearing the SPEXOR exoskeleton decreased metabolic cost and might, therefore, reduce fatigue development and contribute to prevention of low-back pain during repetitive lifting tasks. Reduced metabolic cost can be explained by the exoskeleton substituting part of muscle work at the hip and L5S1 joints and consequently decreasing required back muscle activity.

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adopted from Näf et al., 2018)

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Abbreviations

BNDR:

Bending non-demand return

CoM:

Centre of mass

EMG:

Electromyography

GRF:

Ground reaction force

LBP:

Low-back pain

MVC:

Maximal voluntary contraction

PLAD:

Personal lifting assistive device

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Michel Kaldenhoven from KLM, who made this testing possible.

Funding

The work presented in this paper was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement no. 687662-SPEXOR.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research and Development, Rehabilitation Center Heliomare, Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands

    S. J. Baltrusch & H. Houdijk

  2. Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    S. J. Baltrusch, J. H. van Dieën, A. S. Koopman & H. Houdijk

  3. Robotics and Multibody Mechanics Research Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Flanders Make, Brussels, Belgium

    M. B. Näf & C. Rodriguez-Guerrero

  4. Laboratory for Neuromechanics and Biorobotics, Department of Automation, Biocybernetics and Robotics, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    J. Babič

Authors
  1. S. J. Baltrusch
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  2. J. H. van Dieën
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  3. A. S. Koopman
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  4. M. B. Näf
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  5. C. Rodriguez-Guerrero
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  7. H. Houdijk
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Correspondence to S. J. Baltrusch.

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Communicated by Bénédicte Schepens.

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Baltrusch, S.J., van Dieën, J.H., Koopman, A.S. et al. SPEXOR passive spinal exoskeleton decreases metabolic cost during symmetric repetitive lifting. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 401–412 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04284-6

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