Effect of flooring and footrest on muscle fatigue and discomfort in prolonged standing activities

• Main Authors: Reza Khani Jazani, Mahnaz Saremi, Zeinab Rasouli Kahaki, Mohammad Ali Sanjari, Amir Kavousi
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Iran University of Medical Sciences 2014-09-01
• Series: Salāmat-i kār-i Īrān
• Subjects: electromyography; discomfort; ergonomic flooring; fatigue; prolonged standing.
• Online Access: http://ioh.iums.ac.ir/article-1-1069-en.html

Background and aims: prolongedstanding without significantmoving is a requirement of many jobs and is a known factor of causing musculoskeletal disorders that cause pain and discomfort in lower extremitiesand back discomfort.The purposeofthisstudy was to comparethe effects of cerami c surface,flooring andfootreston discomfort and muscle fatigue lower extremities during long- standing activities.   Methods : Thiscross-sectional study was carried out on15 student s with mean(SD) age of 21.5 ± (2.3 ) andmean height of 163± (2.8). Participants attended 3 sessions each lasting one hours. They stood on threedifferentsurfaces: ceramic, rubber flooringandfootrest.Surfaceelectromyographywas usedto assess themuscle fatigue. Body map and visual analog scale were employed to evaluate discomfort ratings of the lower extremitiesand the back . Dataanalyzseswere performedusingANOVA -R.   Results: Based onthe results ofelectromyography, there was no significant difference between soleus and lateral gastrocnemius muscles fatigue and type of surfaces.   There wasa significant differencebetween thesurfaces(p<0.05) and different areas of the body discomfort level so that the ceramic had the highest discomfort rating, while the lowest ratings were related to footrest.   Conclusion : The resultsindicatethat usingthefootrest and standing on rubberflooringare effective solutionsfor reducinglegdiscomfort.Further investigations are recommended onthe properties of ergonomicflooring and footrest .