Effects of Patient Turning Devices on Muscular Demands of Caregivers

This study evaluated the efficacy of commercially-available patient turning devices (draw sheet, friction-reducing turning sheet, air-assisted lateral transfer device, and air-assisted turning device) in reducing muscular demands of caregivers. A repeated-measures laboratory study with 10 experienced caregivers (8 females and 2 males) was conducted to measure the muscle activity in the upper extremities (biceps, triceps, anterior deltoid, middle deltoid, and upper trapezius) and low back (erector spinae) during standardized patient turning tasks. The results showed that the muscle activities in biceps, triceps, and erector spinae were significantly different by transfer device ( p’s < 0.01). The air-assisted turning device showed the significant reduction (21 to 44%) in muscle activities of all muscles except anterior deltoid compared to the conventional manual turning without assistive device (rotating a patient onto caregivers’ sides by pulling the knee and shoulder of the patient). These findings suggest that the air-assisted turning device can be an effective engineering control to reduce the muscular demands in the upper extremities and low back among caregivers.