Absence of conflict of interest.
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of a 6-month sedentary behavior reduction intervention, the Stand Back program, on health and safety and attitudes for desk workers with chronic low back pain.
- The study was a randomized controlled trial. Using surveys, the authors conducted statistical models to compare the outcomes of treatment and control group members.
- The study found that treatment group participants reported greater improvements in health and safety outcomes compared to control group members.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Stand Back Program, and not to other factors.
Intervention Examined
Features of the Intervention
Low back pain can result in disability, making it costly to employers and to employees' health and well-being. Prior research has found that decreased time sitting resulted in improved back and neck pain for those with sedentary jobs. The Stand Back Program is a six-month intervention that includes behavioral counseling, provision of an activity prompter with a QuickStand sit-stand desk attachment, and an initial in-person counseling session with monthly follow-up phone calls. The intervention served workers with desk jobs who had low back pain.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial design. Participants were recruited in Pittsburgh via fliers, electronic mailings, and university research registries. Of 267 interested individuals, 27 individuals met the eligibility criteria of having chronic low back pain for three months, having low back pain disability according to the Oswestry Disability Index, currently holding a desk job, having stable employment, and receiving supervisor approval. Of these 27 participants, 13 were randomized to the treatment group and offered the 6-month Stand Back Program and 14 were assigned to the control group which did not receive any intervention during the 6-month study period.
The authors used surveys to track changes in outcomes six months after study enrollment. The authors measured outcomes using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ), the Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS), Profile of Mood States (POMS), Health and Work Questionnaire (HWQ), SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The authors used a statistical model to compare the outcomes of treatment and control group members.
Findings
Health and Safety
- The study found that treatment group participants reported greater improvements in energy/fatigue, social functioning, and pain compared to control group members. However, the study did not find a statistically significant relationship between the Stand Back Program and general health, physical functioning, physical limitations, emotional limitations, and emotional well-being.
Attitudes
- The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between the Stand Back Program and productivity, concentration/focus, supervisor relations, and work satisfaction.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The study authors estimated multiple related impacts on outcomes related to health and safety and attitudes. Performing multiple statistical tests on related outcomes makes it more likely that some impacts will be found statistically significant purely by chance and not because they reflect program effectiveness. The authors did not perform statistical adjustments to account for the multiple tests, so the number of statistically significant findings in these domains is likely to be overstated. The study also had a relatively small sample size, with 27 total participants.