A portable aid for healthcare workers helps to prevent back problems.

Nurses and other healthcare workers carry out physically demanding work. They have to do a lot of lifting, perform repetitive tasks and sometimes work in awkward positions. Roughly half of these people therefore suffer from lower back pain. This is a problem both for them personally and for society. A shortage of one million nurses is already forecast for 2030. Ultimately, back problems often lead to staff absences.

The start-up Orthevo, a spin-off from the University of Twente, has developed the Smart Brace to combat these back problems. The Smart Brace is a strap worn around the waist like a wide belt, which provides support for the back.

The key difference from the familiar elastic brace, which provides continuous support, is that the Smart Brace adapts: the band offers dynamic support at the moments when the back is under strain.

To achieve this, the strap is fitted with sensors that detect the wearer’s movements. During lifting and bending movements, an actuator tightens the strap, causing it to act as an extra layer of muscle. When the user stands upright again, the strap relaxes. If the user is not lifting anything but their posture is poor, the sensors emit subtle signals. In this way, the Smart Brace encourages the user to adopt the correct posture.

In the care sector, an aid such as the Smart Brace is sorely needed. On average, a healthcare worker performs more than a thousand physically demanding movements per shift, according to the manufacturers. But people working in construction, in a factory or for a parcel delivery service, for example, can also benefit from this extra support.