  In France, 50% of the population per year is suffering from low back pain.
Lumbar belt are frequently proposed as a part of the treatment of this
pathology. However mechanical ways of working of this medical device is not
clearly understood, but abdominal pressure is often related. So an optical
method was developed in this study to measure strain in lumbar belt and trunk
interface and to derive a pressure estimation. Optical method consisted of
coupling fringe projection and digital image correlation (DIC). Measurement has
been carried out on the right side of a manikin wearing a lumbar belt. Average
strain is 0.2 and average pressure is 1 kPa. Continuation of this study will be
comparison of strain and pressure in different areas of lumbar belt (left side,
front and back) and comparison of different lumbar belts. Results will be used
in a finite elements model to determine lumbar belt impact in intern body. In
long term, this kind of study will be done on human.
