Lower Back v Pelvic Support?

[grover]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum and I have a question I hope you can help with.

This post is long but I believe it is of great interest to professional sports/occupational physiotherapists

I am an 32 year old 6 ft 3 in professional arborist(tree surgeon).

Our job requires us to climb very large mature trees, working from a rope and harness using chainsaws.

A pro arborist and his wife(sports physiotherapist) in our industry have developed a new form of treeclimbing harness which supports the pelvic girdle rather than lower back. Up until now all treeclimbing harnesses have supported the lower back.

Here is a link to a photo and info of the new harness;

Scroll down to see the 'treeflex' harness - its green and black.

http://www.safetytechnology.co.uk/arborist-treeflex.php

I have spoken to the harness designer on an arborist forum, asking him about the benefits of having the support round the pelvic girdle. I explained I thought that it was important to have some kind of support round the lower back as we have to lift chainsaws/branches and turn and twist in the tree constantly repositioning our bodies.

This was his reply;

"I must say, your reasoning about the lower back support is not our accepted reasoning of correct kinesiology of human bio-mechanics. The concept is quite simple; we all have a choice:

1. Use your muscles and skeleton to support and distribute loads properly without dysfunction, encouraging optimum bio-mechanical efficiency. This focuses forces through L3 correctly. TreeFlex is perfectly designed to do this in the work scenario you suggest. Its abdominal and sacral support
centred below L3 help direct force upwards and downwards, like a piston through the spine.

OR

2. Use broad high back support to do it for you. This will load above L3 and compress internal organs such as kidneys. It will prevent the spine from flexing and distributing forces where they should be (L3 - centre of the lumbar curve). A flex reduced spine does not draw synovial fluid as it should, and is at risk of disc failure. This creates flattening of the lumbar curve, and hyper extension of the upper spine and neck(round shoulders and protruding head). This creates pain and dysfunction (MSDs) because the spine isn't being used in the way it is designed (a lot like staking a tree at a weaker taper). This costs money and time to correct, and results in many days off work. Weight lifters belts were designed for 'clean and jerk' of rediculously high 'explosive' forces, beyond what the human body was really designed for. They certainly aren't designed for flexibility or twisting.

A weight lifters belt is designed as a prop for a sport specific situation. Putting that prop into the very dynamic field of tree climbing is incorrect at best. Even pushing logs off a pole, we need to flex the pelvis and power up and down through the spine (lengthening of the spine to distribute force). We also need to flex from side to side to position and lever the saw.

We have designed TFX to be effective in every tree climbing situation, based on our understanding of PPE, kinesiology of human bio-mechanics and the rigours of all aspects of tree climbing work.

We believe our product and its intended use are great solutions to the ergonomic challenges tree climbers face." End of quote.

I would like to hear some of your opinions as professional physiotherapists on this philosophy of supporting the pelvic girdle rather than the lower back.

We can sometimes be working in the tree for 6 to 8 hours per day.
The harnesses we use also have leg supports.

Do you think wearing and using this type of harness will help my back?

If you have any questions I will be very happy to answer them.

Thank you

Tim Craig

[grover]

Anyone?

If no one is going to reply to my post can you please send me in the direction of a more pro-active forum

Thank you

[grover]

For God's sake!! someone say something!

please!

anything!

say hello or something!

Watching this thread is a pain in neck for which the cure is not normally associated with sports therapy, but common decency and good manners.

You guys are very quiet

At least you could tell me to get lost!

Go on tell me to get lost!

I'd appreciated a response, anything.

Thank you

[anishkop]

Hi Grower,

I had written a long reply some moments back...darn thing got deleted

Anyway the gist was that i have very limited experience of seeing this prototype in action or even coming across a person from this profession of tree climbing hence i cannot coment much on this issue. But i can encourage you to try it out yourself for a week and see how you go with it. If its comfortable for you to use you can encourage others to use it for a week and thus have a small experimental trial yourself.
At least thats what i would have done if i was in your place
No harm in giving it a shot. Your wife can always guide you being a sports physio herself.

cheers mate
Anish

[neurospast]

Well Grover,
I suppose having had a look at your harness it doesn't seem to me it will give you a lot of support but it will give you the freedom to move. These harnesses aren't mad eto support you but made to prevent you from falling out of a tree! The talk the chap who is selling the stuff isn't to relyable (it is his product so always better then the rest) and him telling you, if I get this right, that one need support on level L3 seems strange to me as if the rest of the lower back doesn't need support. I do understand that if you are up in a tree you want to be as comfortable as you can to rest the parts of the body you do not use, e.g. legs. So in this the harness which supports you most is the best as simple as that. But realise a climbing harness is not made to support but a safety item and should be regarded as so. for back support; good condition of muscles (which should work as a corset to protect the back) and an elastic corset (only use when at work! in case you would need it) should do.
I hope you like this answer

[amoolya]

Hello Mr. Grover,
Sorry for not being able to post a message. Got to see ur post today... i dont have much experience in this field... but i think pelvic support is as important bcoz, the integrtity of the pelvic girlde has to be maintained, preventing any potential rotations, uplifts or down lifts of the pelvic components... during climbing up n down the trees.
thats what i think...
have fun.... right now, i am too working for a project in which we good into the woods... do calculations... it has been fun.. but ur work seems to be more fun!
good luck
Bye

[jwilso]

do you have a problem with the harness that you currently use? if so can you outline these issues for us?

i must admit that when i first read your post i was a little suspicious. it looks to me that you may just be promoting this harness. is this not the case then???????

[grover]

Thank you so much everyone who responded, I have taken note of your observations, I am not promoting this harness, just curious as to the philosophy it is being marketed with.

The idea of supporting the pelvic girdle rather than the lower back does make sense to me, I'm just concerned about my lower back not having any support.

Building up muscles round the lower back makes sense and I believe that the designers of this harness actively stress the importance of correct body conditioning for our type of work.

I am grateful for evryone who took the time to type a response.

I will try and find a video of a treeclimber at work in the tree, maybe it would help you guys if you ever had to deal with a tree surgeon/climber who was having back problems? at least help you understand the stresses and strain our bodies are under.

Thanks again

Grover

[whizzfizz]

Hi Grover,
regarding your harness, I have done a bit of rock climbing, and your harness looks a similar sort. I think you have to ask yourself what is it for; a)safe suspension, b) allowing flexibility of movement c) supporting your back. the harness you show does a and b, not c, but I feel that back supports are to keep the back still and protect it from too much movement. If you are starting with a healthy functional back, then this support looks fine. spines are designed to be flexible, but beware overloading them!
Not very nice weather for arborists just now.....