The effect of task type and perceived demands on postural movements during standing work

This study investigated how task demands affect postural behaviour during standing. Twenty-four participants completed three different 12-min tasks: (1) a cognitive task that involved answering questions based on a written passage; (2) a light manual assembly task; and (3) standing quietly with no secondary task. The manual task was associated with the lowest amount of postural movement and a more static pose than the other two conditions. Specifically, postural variability of the lumbar (F = 5.8; p = 0.01) and thoracic (F = 4.2; p = 0.03) spine, and fidgets and shifts of the spine (F = 3.2; p = 0.048), were lowest in the manual task. Additionally, individuals perceiving tasks to be more demanding-regardless of task type-tended to move less (p = 0.049) than those perceiving lower demands. These findings provide important initial evidence that the type and perceived demands of standing work tasks can affect postural movement.