RESEARCH - Kneeling, standing on the job boost arthritis risk

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Kneeling, standing on the job boost arthritis risk

By Reuters Health

January 8, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Jan 8 - Men who spend significant amounts of time

kneeling on the job are at great risk of developing osteoarthritis of the

knee, a new study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine

confirms.

While several studies have suggested that people working in jobs that

require spending time on one's knees, such as floor laying, are prone to

knee osteoarthritis, few have been able to quantify the amount of time spent

kneeling that actually increases risk, Dr. Alfred Franzblau of the

University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor and colleagues

note.

Franzblau and his team evaluated 1,970 people participating in the Third

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for whom knee x-rays were

available, limiting their analysis to people who had been on their

longest-held job for at least five years.

The researchers had five ergonomics experts rate occupations based on how

much time a worker would spend each day sitting, standing, walking or

running, carrying or lifting loads greater than 22 lb, kneeling, or working

in a cramped space. This information " allows us to better identify the

magnitude of the exposure that contributes to risk, " Franzblau told Reuters

Health in an interview.

Men in occupations requiring the most kneeling were more than three times as

likely as those who spent the least time on their knees to develop knee

osteoarthritis, the researchers found. Heavy lifting also nearly tripled

knee osteoarthritis risk for men. For women, spending more time standing

during the workday increased the risk of knee osteoarthritis.

Based on these findings, the researchers estimate that 21% of symptomatic

knee osteoarthritis cases in men are due to working in jobs that require

kneeling for more than 14% of the workday. Thirty-one percent of men in the

study had jobs that met this description, including nursery or farm work or

construction trades.

While just 5% of women in the study had jobs that required kneeling, 35% had

jobs that required them to stand for more than 30% of their work day, in

activities such as operating machines or working in sales, the researchers

note. This means about 19% of cases of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis in

women are due to working in such jobs.

" Our results indicate that modifications to work methods are needed to

reduce occupational risk of knee osteoarthritis, " Franzblau and his

colleagues conclude.

By Anne Harding

Last Updated: 2008-01-07 16:04:21 -0400 (Reuters Health)

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