ANTI-FATIGUE FLOOR MAT: AN ERGONOMIC SOLUTION FOR ALLEVIATING LOW BACK PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH PROLONGED STANDING

Prolonged standing in static posture during occupational tasks has been
associated with low back pain (LBP). Increased bilateral gluteus medius (GM) muscles co-activation
is considered to be the most predisposing factor for LBP development during prolonged standing in
asymptomatic individual. Change and modify flooring in occupational environment is common
ergonomic intervention to alleviate problems caused by prolonged standing such as LBP. The purpose
of this study was to investigate the effect of anti-fatigue floor mat on bilateral GM co-activation
pattern and subjective pain in the low back.
Materials & Methods: The study was conducted on 16 asymptomatic participants while they were
doing simulated light occupational tasks in two conditions for two hours as follows: 1) standing on a
hard floor, 2) standing on an anti-fatigue floor mat. In any standing condition, at the beginning of
standing and every 15 minutes until 120 minutes, muscle co-activation of bilateral GM and subjective
pain in the low back region has been collected respectively by surface electromyography (EMG) and
visual analog scale (VAS).
Results: There were no significant difference in bilateral GM co-activation pattern in participants
between two conditions (P=0.776), but anti-fatigue floor mat presented a significantly decreased level
of subjective pain in the low back. Although 73% of participants were indicating that they would use
the anti-fatigue mat if they were in an occupational setting that required prolonged standing work, but
results about the effect of anti-fatigue floor mat on LBP based on an increase of >10mm on VAS
threshold indicated that this intervention has no significant effect on decreased LBP development and
co-activation of bilateral GM muscles in both pain developer and non pain developer groups.
Conclusion: Apparently anti-fatigue mat were useful in decreasing LBP, although objectively it did
not have any significant changes in muscle activity patterns that associated with LBP.