Combating the Effects of Sedentary Work: Postural Variability Reduces Musculoskeletal Discomfort

Abstract

Long periods of intense data entry office work have been linked to increased pain and musculoskeletal disorders. The current study investigated how postural changes mediated by workstation intervention influences the discomfort, postures, and productivity of call center professionals. Thirty-five call center employees were evaluated over two-weeks while performing their job in four different workstation conditions: 1) conventional, 2) sit-stand, 3) conventional with reminder software, and 4) sit-stand with reminder software. The reminder software resulted in reductions in discomfort in the shoulder, hand/wrist, upper back, and lower back. Small increase in the productivity of the workers was also seen for the software reminders. The sit-stand workstation was also effective in reducing discomfort with out decreasing productivity. Periodic breaks that encourage postural changes may be effective in reducing the adverse effects of prolonged static postures commonly found in office work without adversely impact productivity.

Alternative to Reduced Stresses on the Upper Extremity in a Standing Workstation

“…Previous studies have shown that prolonged sedentary computer work could cause pain and discomfort on the lumbar spine, cervical spine, and wrist (Andersson, 1999; Eleftheriou et al, 2012; Nourbakhsh et al, 2001; Rempel et al, 2008; Visser & van Dieën, 2006). To reduce those symptoms, various studies examined the standing workstation as an alternative to the sitting workstation characterized by a prolonged sedentary posture (Davis et al, 2009; Danquah et al, 2017; Lin et al, 2017; Pronk, 2011). On the other hand, no study has provided detailed evidence for developing proper ergonomic guidelines of the standing workstation.…”

“…In contrast, the standing posture can maintain the neutral lumbar lordosis and cervical lordosis and provide a range of postures compared to the sitting posture (Claus et al, 2016; Scannell & McGill, 2003; Vaucher et al, 2015). Consequently, the standing workstation has begun to be adopted in the workplace to minimize exposure to the sedentary sitting posture and may help reduce discomfort (Davis et al, 2009; Danquah et al, 2017; Lin et al, 2017; Pronk, 2011).…”

Effects of Sitting and Standing Work Postures on Short-Term Typing Performance and Discomfort

“…Three of eight studies showed increase in performance for sitstand work when compared to sit only work (Dainoff, 2002;Hedge & Ray, 2004;Ebara et al, 2008). Four studies showed no effect on performance (Nerhood & Thompson, 1994;Hedge et al, 2005;Davis et al, 2009;Husemann et al, 2009), while the remaining study by Hasegawa et al (2001) had mixed results -higher volume of work was performed for sitstand work posture, but with more errors. There have been few studies, if any, comparing the effects sitting and standing work postures on short-term computer typing performance.…”

Development of Modular and Adaptive Laboratory Set-Up for Neuroergonomic and Human-Robot Interaction Research

“…In particular, some authors pointed out the importance of developing fully adjustable and ergonomically designed innovative workstations compared with the non-ergonomically designed fixed traditional workstations (Eswaramoorthi et al, 2010 ) to perform repetitive assembly tasks (Temple and Adams, 2000 ; Shikdar and Hadhrami, 2007 ). Other authors pointed out the advantages of performing workstation activities in an adequate ergonomic position, minimizing worker movements during the working activities (Roelofs and Straker, 2002 ; Lin and Chan, 2007 ; Davis et al, 2009 ). According to Muhundhan ( 2013 ), placing materials, parts, and tools at operators' fingertips reduces unnecessary stretching reach and, in that way, worker's fatigue is also reduced.…”