"Sit - Stand - Be Fit" The influence of Sit/Stand Workstations on Sedentary Behaviour and the Prevalence and Intensity of Musculoskeletal Diseases in Office Workers at an Austria Bank Headquarters

Within the last decades, there has been a significant increase in sitting time. As long periods of daily sitting, especially in long bouts (e.g. more than 45 minutes), are linked to numerous diseases, which cannot be fully compensated by physical activity, various initiatives have been started to reduce sitting time in daily life. One possibility is the implementation of height-adjustable desks that allow their users to work in either a sitting or a standing posture. As the majority of the day is spent at the workplace, the integration of this type of desks in the workplace has proven to be particularly attractive. As a large number of people (more than 1,000) were simultaneously equipped with height-adjustable desks in the course of a change of location of the BAWAG Group, this relocation was scientifically accompanied by an observation trial.
The aim of this longitudinal study – carried out in cooperation with the BAWAG Group – is to identify success factors (e.g. activity, gender, age) for the use of height-adjustable workplaces in office environments (keyword: sedentary behaviour). By means of online surveys, the short-, medium- and long-term effects of height-adjustable desks on musculoskeletal complaints (e.g. back or neck pain) will be examined in order to be able to compare these results with other current scientific investigations, mainly from Anglo-American countries (keyword: intercultural differences).

• Research entity: R&D Department, University of Applied Sciences for Health Professions Upper Austria
• Partner: BAWAG Group