I'm Perfectly Serious

I receive a newsletter from an organization that studies stressors on police officers in the field, including at the point of conflict. I have things to write about that--I have learned a lot.

But the thing that I keep thinking about on and off is a perhaps less acute problem--instead it's a nagging problem: the problem of lower back ache for police officers wearing lots of heavy equipment around their waists.

I know of at least one police officer with serious lower back pain. And he is not an officer with a pot gut that is swaying his spine. I'm willing to bed good cash that he does sit-ups, cross-training, and weighs the right amount.

And sometimes I think a little fix makes a big difference. So, in my armchair, without any experience whatsoever,  I keep turning to problems of Design and Ergonomics. I should say also that I haven't studied Ergonomics worth a damn. However, Design always interests me.

Does anyone out there understand the lower back? I would like to know where weight should be distributed. In addition, there has to be a way to include safety and security as well as ease of reach for these heavy tools and weapons that officers carry.

Image via WikipediaSince I am also an armchair historian, I ruminated over historical methods. And this is funny, and I don't think it would work: the bandolier.  It's a bit of a stretch thinking that a modern LEO wants to imitate Pancho Villa.

But I am perfectly serious in my interest to this question. So please write in if you have any ideas whatsoever. It's turning into one of those symbolic concerns I think: there's just too darn much on a policeman's back.


And that might be the psychological truth behind some of that back pain after all.