Not the doctor-prescribed white elastic & plastic plate rigs, nor those huge leather belts worn by the bar bell boys. I’m asking about those (usually) black girdles with suspenders and velcro closures. From what I can find, OSHA says, basically, “meh” about them, and I never see them on UPS drivers.
When I worked in a wharehouse years ago I sometimes wore one. If I had a sore back it kept me honest by lifting with my legs and squatting rather than bending over and lifting.
So you say the main, possibly only, benefit of them is to restrict your movement so you won’t be tempted to bend?
That’s been my understanding as well - they just make it difficult or uncomfortable to bend over, rather than squat, to pick up something.
Besides, nobody seems to wears them properly, and they tend to provide a false sense of security. “I’m wearing back support, so I can lean over and pick up this engine without any danger of hurting myself!”
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- The elastic ones aren’t supposed to force you to keep your back straight–only to remind you to keep your back straight. The elastic stretches when you bend. Weightlifting belts you might have noticed are leather, and do not stretch–and make it rather uncomfortable to bend your back.
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- Around where I live a lot of employees have to “wear” them but they don’t have to put them on completely if they don’t want–so you see people with them on, just wearing the shoulder straps, and the belt they leave unfastened.
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Basically, yes. They push your body into a better posture. If you have good form, you don’t need them. It was required for me to wear one when I worked at a warehouse but I always thought it was silly, not to mention hot.
Some weightlifting belts are not even wide enough to discourage inappropriate bending. I would bet that there are at least a few people who have injured themselves because they thought that wearing a belt as a talisman would protect their backs.