Postural Awareness and Musculoskeletal Complaints

The present study investigated the association between postural awareness and musculoskeletal complaints in working adults across predominantly sitting, mixed, and predominantly standing working conditions. The primary hypothesis was that higher postural awareness would be associated with a lower number of symptomatic body regions after sequential adjustment for demographic characteristics, occupational factors, perceived workplace ergonomics, regular exercise, and physical activity. We additionally hypothesized that higher postural awareness would be associated with lower odds of complaints in the prespecified neck, upper-back, lower-back, and shoulder regions. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Demographic and occupational variables included age, sex, height, body weight, educational level, predominant working condition, duration in the current working arrangement, daily and weekly working hours, regular exercise participation, and perceived workplace ergonomics. Predominant working condition was self-reported and classified into three mutually exclusive categories: predominantly sitting, mixed sitting and standing, and predominantly standing. Participants were asked to indicate the posture in which they spent more than 50% of their working day. The mixed category represented participants who alternated between sitting and standing, with neither posture accounting for more than 50% of the working day.

Perceived workplace ergonomics was assessed by asking participants whether they considered their workplace to be ergonomically appropriate and categorized as ergonomic, partially ergonomic, or non-ergonomic. Because this variable reflected participants' subjective appraisal rather than an objective ergonomic assessment, it is referred to as perceived workplace ergonomics throughout the study. Regular exercise was defined as engaging in planned exercise at least three days per week, for at least 30 minutes per session, over the preceding three months. Analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 29.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Inclusion criteria

• Adults aged ≥18 years who were currently employed
• Had maintained the same predominant working pattern for at least six months
• Worked at least six hours per day
• Were able to understand and complete the Turkish-language questionnaires.

Exclusion criteria

• an inflammatory disease, fibromyalgia or another chronic widespread pain disorder, a neurological disorder, major musculoskeletal surgery during the preceding six months
• acute musculoskeletal trauma
• continuous use of analgesics, muscle relaxants, or systemic corticosteroids
• pregnancy
• professional-level sports participation
• a diagnosed severe postural deformity.