The Influence of Anti-Fatigue Mats on Back and Leg Fatigue

Abstract

Prolonged standing is common in many industrial workplaces. It is also quite common for workers to complain of discomfort in the back and legs as a result of prolonged standing. Mats are often provided for the worker to relieve this fatigue. However, there is no quantitative evidence that these mats relieve leg and back fatigue. Five subjects were asked to stand on a concrete surface and two mat surfaces for prolonged periods of time. Spectral electromyo-graphic (EMG) analyses indicated that mats reduce localized muscle fatigue in the erector spinae muscle only. Furthermore, this fatigue reduction occurred only with the more com-pressible of the two mats tested. These results imply mat localized muscular fatigue in the leg may not be relieved with “anti-fatigue” mats and some of these mats only benefit the back.

Subjective, physiological and biomechanical responses to prolonged manual work performed standing on hard and soft surfaces

“…Rys and Konz (1994) have concluded that EMG was not sensitive enough to assess muscle fatigue at low levels of contraction. Stuart-Buttle et al (1993) and Kim et al (1994) have indicated that soft surfaces reduced localised muscle fatigue only in the erector spinae muscle and not in the gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles. Kim and Chung (1995) have recorded some trends of fatigue in left and right erector spinae and in left latissimus dorsi muscles during repetitive lifting tasks.…”

“…Foot volume, foot and calf temperature, electromyograph (EMG), heart rate, force platform and video recordings have been used to assess the physiological and biomechanical eects of soft mats (Brantingham et al 1970;Cook et al 1993;Jùrgensen et al 1993;Kim et al 1994;Kim and Chung 1995;Konz 1990, 1994;Stuart-Buttle et al 1993;Zhang et al 1991). However, physiological and biomechanical ®ndings related to standing on a soft or a hard surface are still controversial.…”

The effect of insoles on the incidence and severity of low back pain among workers whose job involves long-distance walking

“…The relation between insoles, feet pain and low back pain was examined mainly on professional sports players [4,9,12,16,20] and on people whose their job involves a lot of standing [2,19,27]. In the latter, it was found that 74% of the examinees found the insoles to be comfortable and reported decrease in their feet and lower back pain [2].…”

“…This phenomenon is achieved by decrease in the point pressure by 30-50% (depends on the material the insole is made of) [16]. It was also proven by electromyographic studies that insoles decrease the fatigability in the back muscles [14,19,27].…”

Influence of flooring conditions on lower leg volume following prolonged standing

“…Venous return insufficiencies and leg fatigue during prolonged standing have been analyzed through various methods including foot/leg dimensions (length, width, area), shank circumference, and volumetric measures. Foot volume, foot and calf temperature, electromyograph, heart rate, force platform and video recordings have all been used to assess the physiological and biomechanical effects of interventions such as mats (Brantingham et al, 1970;Konz, 1990, 1994;Zhang et al, 1991;Cook et al, 1993;Jorgensen et al, 1993;Stuart-Buttle et al, 1993;Kim et al, 1994;Kim and Chung, 1995). Additional physiological and biomechanical measures included blood pressure, heart rate, and total body water monitoring, variations in center of pressure, vertical jump performance, and specific regional pressures (Winkel and Jorgensen, 1986;Kraemer et al, 2000).…”