Continuous assessment of trunk posture in healthcare workers assigned to wards with different MAPO index

Healthcare professionals generally experience an above-average incidence of low back disorders (LBDs) compared with workers of other professions, and its level of risk is commonly assessed using observational methods such as the MAPO method (Movement and Assistance of Hospital Patients). In this study, we continuously monitored the trunk posture of 30 healthcare workers using a single inertial sensor to: 1) understand whether the MAPO classification is effective in adequately discriminating the risk associated with the time spent in non-neutral trunk postures, and 2) characterize the variability of biomechanical exposure among workers employed in wards with the same MAPO index. The results substantially confirm the validity of the MAPO approach in discriminating among wards characterized by different levels of biomechanical exposure associated with the risk of developing LBDs. However, they also highlight the need to assess workers' exposure on an individual basis due to the high intra-group variability.