Development and biomechanical evaluation of a back exoskeleton to support lifting tasks

Publication date
2025-04-30
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
DOI
URI
Project
Publisher
MDPI
Series or journal
Applied Sciences
ISSN
Periodical volume
15
Periodical issue
9
Article ID
5007
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Language
English
Keyword
dtec.bw
Abstract
Musculoskeletal disorders, particularly lower back pain, are common among healthcare workers due to frequent lifting, bending, and prolonged standing. To address this issue, we developed a lightweight, soft, and active exoskeleton designed to support lifting movements while maintaining user mobility and comfort. This paper presents the design of the exoskeleton. To assess the physiological effects on the wearer’s body, we conducted a biomechanical analysis, evaluating joint kinematics (hip and knee) and muscle activation (m. erector spinae and m. semitendinosus) during a lifting task. The results showed that the exoskeleton effectively reduced muscle activation in the m. erector spinae by 15.82 ± 13.35% and m. semitendinosus by 19.89 ± 20.84% without significantly altering the analyzed joint kinematics. These findings indicate that the system provides targeted support without restricting mobility, making it a promising tool for reducing physical strain in healthcare and other physically demanding professions.
Description
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Published version
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