Distinctive characteristics of prolonged standing low back pain developers’ and the associated risk factors: systematic review and meta-analysis

Pain developers (PDs) are considered a pre-clinical low back pain (LBP) population at risk of clinical LBP development and thus exacting great social and economic costs. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively investigate their distinctive characteristics and the risk factors of standing-induced LBP based on which appropriate preventive measures can be planned. Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases as well as Google Scholar and ProQuest were systematically searched from inception through 14 July 2022 using a combination of terms relevant to ‘standing’ and ‘LBP’. Studies with low risk of bias in English and Persian using a methodological quality scoring system were deemed eligible for inclusion if they were laboratory studies using prolonged standing duration greater than 42 min to classify adult PDs and non-pain developers (NPDs) without a history of LBP. PDs were compared with NPDs in demographics, biomechanical, and psychological outcomes. Weighted or standardized mean differences, and Hedge’s g were generated to determine the pooled effect sizes using STATA software version 17. 52 papers and theses involving 1070 participants (528 PDs and 542 NPDs) were eligible for inclusion in the systematic review 33 of which were used in meta-analyses. Significant differences between PDs and NPDs in terms of movement patterns, muscular, postural, psychological, structural, and anthropometric variables were evidenced. The following factors were found to have a statistically significant association with standing-induced LBP: lumbar fidgets (Hedge’s g − 0.72, 95% CI − 1.35 to − 0.08, P = 0.03), lumbar lordosis in participants over 25 years (Hedge’s g 2.75, 95% CI 1.89–3.61, P < 0.001), AHAbd test (WMD 0.7, 95% CI 0.36–1.05, P < 0.001), GMed co-activation (Hedge’s g 4.24, 95% CI 3.18–5.3, P < 0.001), and Pain Catastrophizing Scale (WMD 2.85, 95% CI 0.51–5.19, P = 0.02). Altered motor control displayed in AHAbd test and higher lumbar lordosis in individuals over 25 years seem to be probable risk factors for standing-induced LBP. In order to detect standing-induced LBP risk factors, future researchers should investigate the association of the reported distinctive characteristics to the standing-induced LBP and that whether they are manipulable through various interventions.