A box lift and place assessment is related to performance of several military manual handling tasks

Greg L. Carstairs, Daniel J. Ham, Robert J. Savage, Stuart A. Best, Benjamin Beck, Timothy L A Doyle

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Soldiers undergo regular physical testing to assess their functional capacity. However, current physical tests, such as push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups, do not necessarily assess job-specific physical capability. This article assesses the utility of generic predictive tests and a task-related predictive test in predicting performance against four job-critical military manual handling tasks. The box lift and place test was found to be the superior predictor in performance of four job tasks; a pack lift and place (R2 = 0.76), artillery gunner loading simulation (R2 = 0.36), bombing up an M1 tank simulation, (R2 = 0.47) and a bridge building simulation (R2 = 0.63). Pull-ups and push-ups were poor predictors of performance in the majority of job tasks. Although the box lift and place had a larger correlation with the artillery gunner loading task than the generic assessment, it only accounted for 36% of the variance, indicating that a task simulation may be more appropriate to assess soldiers’ capacity to perform this job task. These results support the use of a box lift and place rather than generic fitness tests for the evaluation of military manual handling tasks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)258-264
Number of pages7
JournalMilitary Medicine
Volume181
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2016
Externally publishedYes

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