The effect of age on in-vivo spine stiffness, postures and discomfort responses during prolonged sitting exposures.
Many industrialised working populations are ageing and prolonged sitting exposures are prevalent across occupational sectors. The purpose of this work was to determine the effect of age and sex on passive spine stiffness, postures and discomfort in response to seated work. A total of 34 participants were recruited, with 17 older adults with an average age of (standard deviation) 63.7 (±3.9) years and 17 younger adults aged 23.8 (±5.0) years. Participants were asked to sit continuously for 90 min while typing. Baseline passive spine stiffness was higher in older adults at 40% flexion compared to younger adults (p = .0233). Older adults sat in less normalised flexion, at 33.4% (±16.4) compared to 60.9% (±20.2) in the younger group (p = .0003). Discomfort was higher among older adults in the neck, right shoulder and middle back regions (p < .0086). An understanding of age-specific responses to workplace exposures is essential to determine whether age-specific interventions are warranted.   Practitioner summary: Older adults had higher passive spine stiffness and sat with less flexion during prolonged sitting. Discomfort was higher among older adults and occurred earlier in the simulation compared to younger participants, indicating that interventions, such as walking breaks may need to be implemented earlier during sitting for aged workers.
['Gruevski|Kristina M|KM|', 'Callaghan|Jack P|JP|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8245-7084']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D000367:Age Factors D000368:Aged D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010147:Pain Measurement D016059:Range of Motion, Articular D012737:Sex Factors D000077708:Sitting Position D013131:Spine D055815:Young Adult
Aging spine stiffness prolonged sitting ergonomics low back pain