Introduction/ objectives:

Many jobs have standing work position and the consequences are easily observed. Occupational health teams are often asked about the importance of using resting mats and/or which model to choose. With this study, it is intended to know the benefits of using resting rugs and if your choice is the most effective to prevent occupational hazards.

Methodology:

This is a Review, framed in a survey conducted in April 2019 in the databases "CINALH plus with full text, Medline with full text, Database of Summaries of Effects Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Methodology Register, Nursing and Allied Health Collection: Comprehensive, MedicLatina, Final Academic Search, Direct Science, Web of Science, SCOPUS and RCAAP.

Content:

The standing posture remained associatively to the discomfort/fatigue, causing symptoms and musculoskeletal pathology (mainly in the lumbar region, leg and foot).

Symptoms can be alleviated if you consider to decrease plantar pressure. The techniques used are the rest rugs, shoes with shock insoles, orthoses or sloping platforms.

The carpets were differentiated according to the rigidity, thickness and material; as well as additives, coatings and geometric shape and all can interfere in the function of the mat.

In addition, they may also have other interesting effects (such as noise, vibration and thermal discomfort attenuation, as the risk of falling workers and objects, floor protection, debris retention, electrostatic charge distribution or fire propagation restriction).

Discussion and Conclusions:

The studies published on this topic are scarce and, in addition they are attempting to quantify subjective parameters; besides that, the samples of workers involved were generally very small, so the conclusions published in the literature are not robust or easily generalizable to all employees with standing posture.

Nevertheless, it seems consensual among the documents selected that the rugs attenuate the symptoms, allowing improvements in productivity, absenteeism, satisfaction and even accidents.

However, in the few articles that compared the use of mats versus rotation between standing and sitting postures or interspersed with soft walks, the latter seem to be more effective than the previous ones, although these are already an added value for Occupational Health.

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