1 Whole Body Vibration and Back Disorders Among Motor Vehicle Drivers and

The purpose of this review was to determine whether there is support for a causal link between exposure to whole body vibration and back disorders in vehicle operating occupations. The review was completed in three steps. We searched the scientific literature using electronic databases (Medline, EMBASE, NIOSHTIC, Ergoweb, and Arbline) and reference literature, then sorted the literature for relevance and topic. The selected scientific studies were reviewed using standard epidemiological criteria, looking for consistency between studies, strong associations unlikely to be due to chance or confounding, increases in response with increases in exposure, and plausible temporal and biological relationships. Forty epidemiological studies of the association between back disorders and vehicle operation jobs were selected for detailed review. The risk was elevated in a broad range of driving occupations, including truck drivers, earth moving machine operators, power shovel operators, bulldozer operators, forklift drivers, crane operators, straddle carrier operators, agricultural workers, tractor drivers, bus drivers, helicopter pilots, subway operators, reindeer herders, and vehicle drivers not otherwise specified. The risk estimates indicated strong associations, especially in the best designed studies. Risks increased with employment duration, as well as with vibration duration and dose, an