The Relationship Between Qualitative and Quantitative Pain Descriptors of Prolonged Standing Induced Low Back Pain

The purpose of this study was to determine if assessing pain symptoms could help to better define prolonged standing induced low back pain (LBP) development. Thirty-five participants (18 male & 17 female), with no prior history of LBP, preformed two-hours of standing while doing occupational tasks in random 15-minute bouts. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and The Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire were used to assess the participant’s current level of LBP in 7.5-minute increments for 120 minutes of standing. Participants were instrumented for motion capture and stood on two force plates to track lumbar spine movement and body weight shifts, respectively. Participants were either classified as pain developers (PDs) or non-pain developers (non-PDs) based on two methods, VAS and symptoms. A two-way chi-square test was used to compare pain categorization. A three-way ANOVA (time, gender, pain group) was run with lumbar spine fidgets and large body weight shifts. Pain developers on average reported pain development with the symptom method 31.3 (± 24.8) minutes before the VAS method. Eight participants (44%) changed from non-PDs with the VAS method to PDs with the symptom method (p=0.0047). Fifty-six percent of non-PDs, classified using the VAS, reported LBP symptoms during prolonged standing. Separating groups by symptom reporting did not determine differences in lumbar spine movements and body weight shifts. Clinicians, workers, and future researchers can use symptoms to help categorize pain in order to help reduce LBP due to prolonged standing