Another Study Shows Back Belts Don't Prevent Low Back Pain

[Note: Using a Low Back support does two things, (1) it gives a false sense of security and (2) it allows you to lift more that you back is made to and (3) compromises your low back muscles to function properly. It is like wearing a cast on your back. The muscles will eventually wither and become weaker. This sets you up for even more injury. The take home message: Don use back supports. - Dr. A.]

The use of back belts for preventing low-back pain (LBP) is a point of hot debate. Now a report in today's Journal of the American Medical Association supports what many previous studies have found: back belts don't avert LBP.

In the largest prospective cohort study of back belt use to date, 6,311 newly-hired material-handling workers were followed for six months. Investigators reviewed injury claims and interviewed the subjects about their back-pain experience at the study's onset, and at six-month follow-up.

Findings showed that "neither frequent back belt use nor a belt-requirement store policy was significantly associated with back injury claim rates or self-reported back pain.

JAMA ;284:2727-32.