A torso attitude sensor for determining when a person bends the back at the waist past a predetermined lumbosacral angle, comprising:
- a portable housing;
- at least two attitude responsive switches secured inside the housing, one of said attitude responsive switches being so oriented as to be actuated when said portable housing is inclined in a first direction in excess of a predetermined lumbosacral angle relative to an upright affixation of the portable housing to a garment at the side of the waist;
- another attitude responsive switch being so oriented as to be actuated when said housing is inclined by said predetermined lumbosacral angle in a second direction opposite to that of the first direction, means for mounting the housing to one of the left and right sides of a garment worn at the waist of the person to enable actuation of one of said switches when the housing is inclined past said predetermined lumbosacral angle when the person bends the back;
- means for generating a signal when one of said attitude responsive switches is actuated by an inclination of the housing past said predetermined lumbosacral angle, means, mounted within the portable housing and effectively responsive to the signal, for accumulating a count of the number of times any one of said attitude responsive switches has been actuated as a result of said person having bent his or her back in excess of the predetermined lumbosacral angle and means, within the portable housing, for producing an output signal indicative of the accumulated count;
- said means for accumulating a count having means for resetting the means for accumulating a count, said resetting means being located within said housing so as to reduce access to said resetting means by said person and enable reliable monitoring of bends by said person beyond said predetermined lumbosacral angle;
- wherein said mounting means includes, means, affixed to a wall of the portable housing, for attaching the housing to one of the left and right sides of a garment worn at the waist of said person;
- said attaching means including a plurality of elongate parallel teeth aligned substantially transverse to an upright alignment of the portable housing, said plurality of teeth cooperatively engaging said garment so as to maintain said upright affixation of the housing when worn by the person at the waist.