PREVALENCE OF LOW BACK PAIN IN SITTING VERSUS STANDING POSTURE IN WORKING ACADEMICIANS–A SURVEY STUDY

INTRODUCTION Musculoskeletal conditions arise throughout an individual’s life at various points of time. Out of the many problems suffered, low back pain is one of the most frequently reported conditions. Low back pain is defined as “pain and discomfort, localised below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal folds, with or without leg pain” and can be categorized into 3 types- Acute, Sub-acute and Chronic. Acute low back pain is defined as an episode of pain persisting for less than 6 weeks; sub-acute as pain persisting between 6 and 12 weeks; chronic as pain persisting for 12 weeks or more Sitting and Standing are two of the most common postures attained during various occupations. Occupations which involve sitting include desktop jobs, computer professionals, bankers, receptionists, chartered accountants. Whereas occupations that require standing are that of beauticians, security guards, teachers, pharmacists. These jobs involve working in the same posture for long periods of time, which is why it is very important to maintain proper ergonomics during work (Pillai & Haral, 2018). The academic profession is dedicated to providing university level education, engaging in research and generating new knowledge. During their working lives, academicians are affected by professional challenges such as standing for long periods during lessons, using a computer in a static posture for publication and course preparation and psychological pressure caused by academic advancement concerns. Although the number of studies on occupational problems has increased in recent years, they concentrated primarily on the health of office employees and industrial workers whereas studies on academicians and teachers are limited (Özdinç et al., 2019). . In Malaysia, the prevalence of lower back pain was at 40.4 % among school teachers in Klang Valley, Selangor. Various researches suggested that repeated activities performed by school teachers in a prolonged sitting posture such as reading, marking of assignments, computer usage, prolonged standing posture such as teaching in class, and repetitive overhead writing on board were the causes of WMSDs (Mohan et al., 2015). . In fact, sitting and standing postures at work vary as to duration and freedom to alternate postures, and standing postures vary as to mobility (i.e. the degree to which workers may walk or move their feet while standing), although few studies have measured these parameters of postural differences or taken them into account when studying the association between general working posture and LBP (Tissot, 2009).