This is my first post on this forum so I'll give a little background and then ask my question.

I've been in the freight industry for about 7 years as everything from a truck driver, dock worker to supervisor. I'm currently an ops supervisor tasked with a lot more than I've ever been trained for but I'm able to get the job done.

Now the question. Has anyone found a correlation between low back pain and forklift use? I'm doing some research for myself as I suffer from chronic back pain and have found that if I spend any extended time on a forklift, my pain is exacerbated. I've had back pain for years even before forklift use so I know it's not the root cause but it's greatly increased after a shift of loading/unloading trucks.

Our environment is 95% indoor on flat, level concrete. We load trucks over a manually operated dock plate and none of them have a smooth transition from dock to trailer. I know slowing down upon entry/exit will reduce the jarring effects......that's a no-brainer.

However, I'm finding online words such as "dock shock" and "WBV" (whole body vibration) as potential causes of lower back pain. Is there any meat to these causes?

I'm not looking to change the forklift world nor am I looking for information to create a class-action lawsuit against anyone. I'm looking for ways to prevent/reduce lower back fatigue for the guys on my dock and maybe find some relief for myself in the process.

Thanks in advance for any input.

DockPlate