Treadmill workstations reduce neck, shoulder muscle pain

Treadmill workstations can help reduce the neck and shoulder muscle pain associated with computer work, a new study has found.
Julie Cote, a kinesiology researcher who teaches at McGill University, is finding ways to reduce or prevent the kinds of muscular and skeletal stresses and pains that will affect one in ten office workers at some point in their careers.
"Even though office workers may not naturally see it that way, their body is basically their work instrument, just as it is for an athlete," said Cote.
"It can get injured in similar ways and for similar reasons: overuse of certain muscles," Cote said.

One of her current experiments involves looking at treadmill workstations.
"These workstations may be good for getting people moving and losing weight but no one has looked into how this kind of posture affects the muscles in the neck, shoulders and lower back," said Cote.

She and her fellow researchers asked experiment subjects to complete a 90-minute typing task while walking or sitting, while they measured muscle activity in the neck, shoulders, forearms, wrists and lower back.
The researchers discovered that there was lower but more variable neck and shoulder muscle activity when subjects were walking compared with sitting, all of which translates into less discomfort.

Thus, treadmill work stations are potentially helpful in reducing the neck and shoulder muscle pain associated with computer work, researchers said.
The study is published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.