Reducing risk for back pain in nursing personnel.

Transferring the clients from toilet to wheelchair was the task ranked as most stressful by nursing assistants in a nursing home. The compressive force to the L5S1 disc by client weight during the toilet to wheelchair transfer exceeded the action limit permitted as safe by NIOSH. Two of the three mechanical hoists were perceived to be as stressful or more stressful than the moment transfer methods with the walking belt. Of the five manual methods for transferring, the use of the walking belt was determined to be least stressful and most comfortable for nursing subjects and clients.