You might think that the 35lb transfer limit would eliminate most of your patients. Actually the majority of you patients have a transfer weight much lower than 35lbs. The number 35lbs represents the amount of weight OSHA has determined is safe to lift so long as it is close to your body. This could severely limit manual patient transfers except for one thing, you only need to exert a transfer force of 10% of the patient’s body weight. You can use a new patient transfer technique that relies on known leverage points used in industry thousands of years. It is called the Balance Pivot patient transfer.
Balance Pivot is a technique that transfers the weight to the floor without the necessity of the patient to have any use of the leg muscles. Even a large man of 250lbs only has a transfer weight of 25lbs. This is an amount of weight that can be easily transferred even by a small caregiver. Learn the principle of Balance Pivot and it will set you free when it comes to transferring the majority of your patients.
