Effects of an Active and a Passive Work Condition on Musculoskeletal Discomfort and Computer Typing Performance for Computer-Based Work

Abstract

A growing body of research suggests that excessive chair-seated work is negatively associated with health and wellbeing of office workers. Replacing chair-seated work with “active rest” postures may offer beneficial health and productivity outcomes. Therefore, this pilot study compared musculoskeletal-discomfort (MSD) and computer-typing performance between an active (20-min floor-seated work followed by 10-min of standing work) and a passive (30-min of chair-seated work) condition in an office-like laboratory environment. Using a repeated measures experimental design twelve participants performed computer-typing tasks for 60 minutes each in the active and passive work conditions. Results indicate that change in MSD was significantly lower in the active work condition compared to passive work condition; there was no significant difference in computer-typing performance between work conditions. Findings suggest that replacing chair-seated work with a combination of floor-seated and standing work can attenuate MSD without negatively impacting computer-typing performance.