Can anyone point me in the direction of a good supplier of props for Manual Handling courses, I am specifically looking for either a full skeleton (plastic would be fine), or particularly the spine to demonstrate the workings of the bones. Any other good props you know of or have seen used or use yourself would be of interest.
Christine Abbotts
4 Responses
Skeletons in the closet
Suggest you try theatrical supplies companies for a skeleton- these are no doubt listed in Yellow Pages etc.
Alternatively you could contact local schools (e.g. biology depts) or medical schools and ask if they can provide you with supplier names.
Medical suppliers for training purposes
Try http://www.espmodels.co.uk/ho.html
They deal with all medical supplies for training on the skeleton for universities etc. They even do a minature which might help you as the larger ones take a while to put together and disassemble. They also provide individual bone clusters like joints, cervical spine etc.
Best of Luck
Tbdgloballtd
http://www.tbdglobal.com
0870 241 3998
Take a Sledgehammer
As previously stated esp are the best source for skeletons in the uk. You could also use household objects bags of potatoes sugar etc to demonstrate the relative effects of different weights when taken higher /lower or closer/ further from the line of the trunk. my favourite is to use an 8lb sledgehammer as the head is a reasonable model for the weight of a human head and the shaft demonstrates the balance effect relative to the length of the spine. In terms of the assessment (visually) of a task two identical suitcases one with a load and the other without is always a useful excercise.
Useful website
Go to http://www.999supplies.com and do an SP search for lifting, skeleton, spine et cetera