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

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.

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.

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.

The resultsindicatethat usingthefootrest and standing on rubberflooringare effective solutionsfor reducinglegdiscomfort.Further investigations are recommended onthe properties of ergonomicflooring and footrest.