Strapped for cash.

• Position: Champion Ergonomics' Work Belt for back problems

When it comes to medical costs from work-related injuries, backs don't take a back seat to any other part of the anatomy.

In 1989-90, nearly 7,800 back-injury cases cost $69 million to treat, far more than injuries to any other body part, the North Carolina Industrial Commission reported.

Seeing such problems daily, Greensboro chiropractor Gary McKeel, 37, decided a preventive approach might make him some money. So he invested $500,000 in 1991 to start Champion Ergonomics, a Raleigh-based company that produces the Work Belt to support the backs of heavy lifters. "I had to gather all my personal wealth accumulated over 12 years and put it on the line," he says.

Champion was profitable on sales of $4 million during its first year, with sales projected to nearly quadruple to $15 million during the current fiscal year, McKeel says. That will make Champion No. 2 in market share behind Georgia-based Ergodyne Inc. (In December, Champion successfully defended itself in a patent-infringement suit brought by Ergodyne.)

He credits Champion's success to businesses' enormous desire to reduce back injuries. "Other than the common cold, people miss more days from work and lose productivity because of back injuries than any other type of injury," he says.

Adding to Champion's prospects is the possibility that the federal Occupational...