Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain

Physiotherapists perceive upright, lordotic sitting postures to be important in the management of non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Little is known about the perceptions of the wider community about seated posture, despite this being an important consideration before attempting to change...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: O'Sullivan, K., O'Keeffe, M., O'Sullivan, L., O'Sullivan, Peter, Dankaerts, W.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7972
_version_ 1848745522691571712
author O'Sullivan, K.
O'Keeffe, M.
O'Sullivan, L.
O'Sullivan, Peter
Dankaerts, W.
author_facet O'Sullivan, K.
O'Keeffe, M.
O'Sullivan, L.
O'Sullivan, Peter
Dankaerts, W.
author_sort O'Sullivan, K.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Physiotherapists perceive upright, lordotic sitting postures to be important in the management of non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Little is known about the perceptions of the wider community about seated posture, despite this being an important consideration before attempting to change seated posture. This study investigated perceptions of the best and worst sitting postures among members of the community, both with (n=120) and without (n=235) NSCLBP. Participants with NSCLBP perceived posture to be more important (p<0.001), and reported thinking about their posture significantly more frequently (p<0.001), than those without NSCLBP. 54% of participants selected a "neutral" lordotic sitting posture as their best posture, which was more frequent than any other posture (p<0.001). Sitting postures which were "straight", and were perceived to keep the head, neck and shoulders in good alignment were preferred. However, what people considered "straight" varied considerably. 78% selected a slumped sitting posture as their worst posture, which was more frequent than any other posture (p<0.001). The choice of best and worst sitting postures was not significantly influenced by gender, the presence of NSCLBP, or measures of pain, disability or back pain beliefs. Interestingly, a very upright sitting posture was the second most popular selection as both the best (19%) and worst (15%) posture. Overall, lordotic lumbar postures were strongly favoured among members of the community, which is broadly in line with the previously reported perceptions of physiotherapists. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T06:18:42Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-7972
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T06:18:42Z
publishDate 2013
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-79722017-09-13T14:33:47Z Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain O'Sullivan, K. O'Keeffe, M. O'Sullivan, L. O'Sullivan, Peter Dankaerts, W. Physiotherapists perceive upright, lordotic sitting postures to be important in the management of non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP). Little is known about the perceptions of the wider community about seated posture, despite this being an important consideration before attempting to change seated posture. This study investigated perceptions of the best and worst sitting postures among members of the community, both with (n=120) and without (n=235) NSCLBP. Participants with NSCLBP perceived posture to be more important (p<0.001), and reported thinking about their posture significantly more frequently (p<0.001), than those without NSCLBP. 54% of participants selected a "neutral" lordotic sitting posture as their best posture, which was more frequent than any other posture (p<0.001). Sitting postures which were "straight", and were perceived to keep the head, neck and shoulders in good alignment were preferred. However, what people considered "straight" varied considerably. 78% selected a slumped sitting posture as their worst posture, which was more frequent than any other posture (p<0.001). The choice of best and worst sitting postures was not significantly influenced by gender, the presence of NSCLBP, or measures of pain, disability or back pain beliefs. Interestingly, a very upright sitting posture was the second most popular selection as both the best (19%) and worst (15%) posture. Overall, lordotic lumbar postures were strongly favoured among members of the community, which is broadly in line with the previously reported perceptions of physiotherapists. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7972 10.1016/j.math.2013.05.013 restricted
spellingShingle O'Sullivan, K.
O'Keeffe, M.
O'Sullivan, L.
O'Sullivan, Peter
Dankaerts, W.
Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain
title Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain
title_full Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain
title_fullStr Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain
title_short Perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain
title_sort perceptions of sitting posture among members of the community, both with and without non-specific chronic low back pain
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7972