  
BACKSAVING
HANDLE
MANY USES!
The BACKSAVING HANDLE™ is an
ergonomic grip that
can save your back muscles while doing many tasks. It allows you to
place
your hands in a number of different positions. The BACKSAVING
HANDLE™
improves implement balance and resists twisting action. It is like
having
a third hand!
Reno
Gazette-Journal
February
1, 1997
ON THE JOB:
Bill Dickerson,
president of CareBorne,
adds the
Backsaving Handle to
several pieces
of equipment to
demonstrate the
product's versatility.
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Do It
Yourself
Handle takes hassle out of yard
work
By Cory Farley Reno
Gazette-Journal
A Strange-looking device that seems too simple to do
what it's
supposed to may revolutionize the way tools are built.
The Backsaving Handle, product of a Sparks
company called CareBorne,
is little more than a piece of aluminum tubing bent into a cursive
letter
"u." But when it's attached to a tool, it changes that tool's
relationship
to the user.
There's scientific evidence to support CareBorne
president Bill Dickerson's claims
of energy savings and reduced back strain, and a user test (see related
story) supports him too.
CareBorne got its start making orthopedic aids
for the medical industry.
Its best-known product, the Hope Crutch features another too-simple
idea:
An extension that curves behind the back of the user, so the crutch
won't
slip. Dickerson says three-fourths of major college athletic teams and
nearly all pro basketball teams use them.
The Backsaving Handle is CareBorne's first try at
a true consumer item.
In designing it, the company called on what it knew about orthopedics,
then did a computer analysis of how our bodies work.
In one typical test, sensors were attached to
people doing common jobs--
shoveling, raking -- to measure when and how strongly their muscles
"fired."
There was already a line of bent-handled tools on the market, Dickerson
said. But when CareBorne looked closely, "we found they did save
energy,
but they didn't do the full job."
After some experimentation, bending tubing this
way and that, CareBorne
arrived at what it felt was a better design. The Backsaver, which
can
go on nearly any straight-handled tool, obviously reduces bending over
a conventional handle. But it has other benefits not so easily seen.
"In most tools, you have to grip with your palm,"
Dickerson said. "you
have friction. We didn't want friction.: The Backsaver is padded, which
pampers hands.
But the real breakthrough is in its design. The
hands don't have
to slide along it, as they do on straight handles: no friction; no
blisters.
A hand on the Backsaver also suspends the tool in its position of use,
so no energy is wasted bringing it to bear.
The Backsaving Handle has been a success so far.
Both California and
Nevada are evaluating it for state work crews, Dickerson says. More
than
half of their workmen's compensation claims are for back injuries,
which
he claims the handle would greatly reduce.
And when the handle was tested by U.S. Forest
Service firefighters,
"they took them home with them."
A major tool company -- no names yet -- is
considering adapting the
design for new tools as well.
For now, though, Dickerson is concentrating on
the aftermarket. There
are millions of tools out there, and at least hundreds of thousands of
sore-backed users. With the Backsaving Handle, CareBorne seems to have
a good start on solving their problems.
|
Backsaving Handle: It actually
works
Reno Gazette-Journal,
February 1, 1997
by Cory Farley
If miracle gimmicks have one thing in common, it's that they
don't work. Usually not as well as advertised, and often not at all.
The
Backsaving Handle is an exception.
Bill
Dickerson, president of CareBorne, the Reno company that makes
the handle, recommends it particularly for snow shovels. A
Gazette-Journal
staffer who tried the device, though, got it before the snow fell. He
put
it first on a steel rake.
Installation
was quick and easy. In use, the handle felt awkward
for about a minute. After that, though, it was hard to imagine how
rakes
kept straight handles all these years.
The
top hand (the right, for a right-handed user) takes its conventional
place at the end of the handle. Rather than bending to put the left
hand
down the shaft, though, you grasp the Backsaver. Result: You work
with
your back almost straight, for less stress and better leverage.
The
Handle isn't meant to be interchangeable, but in the interest of
research we also tried it on a shovel. Again, after a few seconds of
awkwardness it
felt as though it should have been the plan all along. Scooping
material
from the ground took much less effort, and loading it into a pickup was
easier, too. Dickerson advises using the left hand on the Backsaver
as a fulcrum, then pushing down on the end of the original handle to
raise
the load, all but eliminating stooping and letting arms to the work.
For
the sore-backed, the Backsaving Handle seems accurately named.
Order
the Backsaving Handle by CareBorne (Made In USA) [.doc]
Instructions:
Download the .doc file above. Fill it out, save it with your
information in it and email it to
careborne@charter.net
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