Standing Work: Carpet vs. Concrete

Abstract

A significant part of the workforce works with the feet and legs in a relatively static standing position. In an experiment, 20 college students (mean age = 23) stood wearing 2 pairs of socks but no shoes at a table for 240 minutes (120 minutes on carpet on one day and 120 minutes on concrete on another day). Ten subjects stood in the morning and 10 in the afternoon. Foot volume and instep vertical and horizontal circumference and calf circumference did not differ significantly between morning and afternoon or between carpet and concrete. Heart rate did not differ between morning and afternoon but the 95.2 for carpet was significantly lower than the 100.1 for concrete. Perceived comfort ratings were higher for carpet than concrete. Body areas in which comfort decreased the most while on concrete were: lower leg, upper leg, ankle, whole foot, the neck and the shoulder. When the individual factors were combined into a single factor using factor analysis, the 77.7 score (0–100 scale) for carpet was significantly better than the 71.9 for concrete.