Determining sex-related behavioral differences in manual material lifting and lowering movements during daily life

Individuals who rarely engage in manual lifting and lowering operations in their daily lives (novices) are more likely to be injured by these actions than experts. While there are many studies in the literature on manual material handling in industrial applications, studies evaluating the risks for novice individuals are limited. This study aims to determine the reasons that cause the preference of load-lifting and load-lowering behavior that changes depending on sex-related differences in people who are novices in lifting. In this context, the subjects were asked to perform squatting manual material lifting, stooping manual material lifting, symmetrical manual material lowering, and asymmetric manual material lowering actions. Kinematic calculations were made by the Denavit-Hartenberg method using the 3D human skeleton model. The iterative Newton-Euler method was used to calculate the net reaction moments at the L5/S1 joint, which has the highest risk of injury. As a result, it was observed that females behaved differently from males during the act of manual material lifting but exhibited similar behavior during the act of manual material lowering.