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[Does sitting at work cause low back pain?].

Jan Hartvigsen1, Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, Svend Lings

  • 1Nordisk Institut for Kiropraktik, Klinisk Biomekanik, Kosterbakken 20, DK-5000 Odense. j.hartvigsen@nikkb.dk

Ugeskrift for Laeger
|February 20, 2002
PubMed
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This study found no strong evidence linking sitting while working to low back pain (LBP). Most studies, even high-quality ones, did not support this common belief.

Area of Science:

  • Occupational Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Musculoskeletal Disorders

Background:

  • Low back pain (LBP) is a prevalent condition often anecdotally linked to prolonged sitting at work.
  • Despite common assumptions, a comprehensive meta-analysis or critical systematic review on this association was lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review and critically evaluate the scientific literature on the association between sitting while working and low back pain.
  • To determine if current epidemiological evidence supports the popular notion linking workplace sitting to LBP.

Main Methods:

  • A systematic literature search was conducted across Medline, Embase, and OSH-ROM databases for studies published between 1985 and 1997.
  • Studies were categorized into 'sitting-while-working' and 'sedentary occupations', and assessed for quality based on sample representativeness, response rate, LBP definition, and statistical analysis.

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Main Results:

  • Out of 35 identified reports, only eight met basic quality criteria.
  • The majority of studies, irrespective of quality, found no positive association between sitting while working and LBP.
  • High-quality studies indicated a slight negative association between sitting and LBP when compared to other workplace exposures or occupations.

Conclusions:

  • Despite the limited number of high-quality studies, findings were consistent in showing a lack of positive association.
  • The current body of epidemiological literature does not substantiate the widespread belief that sitting at work causes low back pain.