Effects of Type of Work and Age on Spinal Shrinkage

Spinal shrinkage has been confirmed to be a result of loads imposed on the human spine. The present study was aimed at studying the effects of different types of work on spinal shrinkage. Moreover, the relationship between age and spinal shrinkage was also studied. The heights just before the start and after the close of work were measured in order to determine the spinal shrinkage. The study confirmed that there was no correlation between age and spinal shrinkage at 5% level of significance. It also confirmed that significant differences (at 5% level of significance) exist between spinal shrinkages due to heavy and light workloads. This suggests that inter individual variation in spinal shrinkage may be as a result of the types of work undertaken. Keywords : Spinal shrinkage, Spine, age, workloads, visco-elasticity. Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology Vol. 6 (1) 2006 pp. 8-15