Anti-fatigue mats, low back pain, and electromyography: An interventional study

Abstract

Objectives: Increasing bilateral gluteus medius co-activation has been identified as one of the most important factors in developing low back pain due to prolonged standing in healthy people. This study aims to investigate the impact of an anti-fatigue mat on the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation pattern and to report the low back pain subjectively in 2 different standing positions on the normal rigid surface and on the anti-fatigue mat. Material and Methods: While carrying out an easy simulated profession, 16 participants who had no low back pain background were requested to stand for 2 h in each position, with and without using the anti-fatigue floor mat, respectively. At the beginning of standing process and at every 15 min until the time of 120 min lapses, electric activities for the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation and subjective pain level in low back area were collected by the surface electromyogeraphy (EMG) and the visual analogue scale (VAS), respectively in each position. Results: The obtained findings revealed that the anti-fatigue mat significantly decreased subjective pain level in low back area among 15 participants (p < 0.05). However, there was objectively no significant difference in the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation pattern among the participants between the position 1 and the position 2 (p > 0.05). The findings obtained under this study related to the impact of the anti-fatigue mat upon the low back pain based on the increase of > 10 mm on the VAS threshold, which showed that this in tervention had no significant impact upon decreasing the number of patients suffering from the low back pain and also minimizing the bilateral gluteus medius co-activation in both pain developer groups (p > 0.05). However, 73% of the participants preferred to apply it. Conclusions: It seems that the anti-fatigue mat may be useful in reducing the low back pain although it objectively didn't significantly change the gluteus medius co-activation pattern related to the low back pain.

Prolonged occupational standing: the impact of time and footwear

“…The increases in discomfort reported in this study over time are consistent with previous prolonged standing studies (Aghazadeh et al, 2015;Antle & Cote, 2013;Cham & Redfern, 2001;Kim & Stuart-Buttle, 1994;Coenen et al, 2017). The decreased lower back discomfort in the softer footwear mirrors the effects of softer flooring (Cham & Redfern, 2001;King, 2002;Lin et al, 2012;Orlando and King, 2004), suggesting that it could provide a similar benefit whilst being individual and portable.…”

“…It has also been suggested that the low muscle contractions associated with prolonged standing are not ideal for recording spectral shifts (Cham & Redfern, 2001), possibly a result of the shifts being insensitive to low muscle contractions. The lack of difference between footwear for erector spinae co-contraction has been previously recorded between different flooring, despite increases in low back discomfort (Aghazadeh, et al, 2015). Muscle co-activation during standing can vary between individuals (Nelson-Wong & Callaghan, 2010), and it is feasible that fatigue in individual muscles could also be dependent on participant specific standing posture or pre-existing muscle preferences.…”

“…However, investigation of blood pooling when standing on softer floors has indicated both a decrease (Lin et al, 2012;Madelaine, Voigt, & Arendt-Nielsen, 1998) and no effect on blood pooling (Cham & Redfern, 2001;Zander et al, 2004). The literature does not generally support any effect of soft flooring or footwear on muscle activity during standing (Aghazadeh et al, 2015;Cook, Branch, Baranowski, & Hutton, 1993;Hansen, Winkel, & Jorgensen, 1998).…”

Influence of footwear on individual performance during prolonged standing

“…Javad Aghazadeh et al, (2015), investigated pain, while the participants stood on polyurethane foam 14.5 mm mat and concrete floor, using EMG & VAS. He concluded that anti-fatigue mat may be useful in reducing the low back pain although it objectively didn't significantly change the gluteus medius co-activation pattern related to the lower back pain.…”

Influence of Footwear on Individual Performance during Prolonged Standing

“…This study suggests that anti fatigue mat and micro breaks should be provided to the workers to reduce muscle fatigue [03]. Aghazadeh, et al 2015, investigated pain, while the participants stood on polyurethane foam 14.5 mm mat and concrete floor, using EMG & VAS. He concluded that anti-fatigue mat may be useful in reducing the low back pain although it objectively didn't significantly change the gluteus medius co-activation pattern related to the lower back pain [04].…”