Standing work and low back pain: An experimental analysis of risk factors.
Jonathan Osorio-Vasco, Jessica Rojas-Mora, Carlos Barrera-Causil and 1 others
PMID 42125858WHAT IT FOUND
No tested standing setup made pain lower than another.
Pain rose over 120 minutes in all eight groups, and static posture, anti-fatigue mats, and insoles did not separate the groups.
Key findings
01Perceived low back pain increased from baseline across all eight experimental scenarios.
02No significant differences were found among the eight experimental scenarios in either analysis.
03Pain was significantly higher than baseline at every scheduled 30-minute check.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study used 30 university students, not workers with existing low back pain or occupational standing demands. Each person did only one 120-minute simulation, so the study did not test repeated exposures across a workday. The tasks were light, such as assembling boxes and puzzles, and did not include lifting, repetitive demands, or workplace stress. The sample size and post-hoc power were low for posture, mat, insole, and other factors, so real differences may have been missed. The 9 mm pain cutoff and 60-minute onset estimate were chosen by the authors and are not a fixed clinical rule. The authors state that results should not be extrapolated to real occupational settings without field studies.
Declared interests
The work was funded by Institución Universitaria ITM and the Facultad Nacional de Salud Pública at Universidad de Antioquia. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that anti-fatigue mats, insoles, or dynamic posture reduce low back pain. The eight scenarios did not differ significantly, and the study used 30 young students doing light tasks for 120 minutes.