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CompletedNCT06841107Updated Feb 24, 2025

Investigation of the Effect of Spine Health Training and Lumbar Region Support on Back Pain and Discomfort in City Bus Drivers: a Randomized Controlled Trial

An interventional study of Training was provided on spinal health. and Training on spinal health was provided and lumbar region support was applied for 3 months. in Low Back Pain (LBP) and Low Back Disorder, sponsored by Pamukkale University. Completed at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Open to male participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-02-24.

Sponsored by Pamukkale University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 3 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Oct 2022, registered Jan 2025).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
104
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
Male
01

Study summary

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies driving as a function of daily activities and social participation. Professional bus drivers have an important place in society for transportation. Drivers are seen as a stressful occupational group due to their use of the vehicle in the same position and intensive working hours.

It is important for bus drivers not to feel discomfort during long working hours and to choose the right seat position. Because the design of the driver's seat directly affects the driver's spine biomechanics. For an ergonomic posture, the head, back and waist areas of the driver's seats should be well supported. During driving, the waist and back of the seat should be supported in order to fix the driver's lumbar region due to movements in the vehicle seat.

Professional drivers' long working hours, sitting positions and exposure to vibration, work stress, short breaks, and insufficient physical activity bring about occupational diseases. Musculoskeletal disorders are seen primarily, as well as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc. Most musculoskeletal problems are caused by incorrect sitting positions. In many studies, it is seen that drivers have neck, upper back and waist pain, and spinal problems. The main reason for musculoskeletal disorders is that the seats are not adjustable and most drivers try to maintain their posture with additional supports. When the studies conducted look at the relationship between the driver and the seat during long-term vehicle use, the pressure in the contact areas, insufficient support in the back and waist area causes a decrease in comfort, thus causing back and waist discomfort and pain in the individual.

Psychosocial factors are also risk factors affecting musculoskeletal disorders. It has been observed that stress causes various diseases including heart disease, gastrointestinal diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders in city bus drivers. Psychosocial factors such as job satisfaction, burnout, and stress have been found to be associated with the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders.

Eliminating the back pain and discomfort of professional drivers, who occupy a large place in society, will provide great benefits both for the health of individuals and to alleviate the burden on the service sector. In studies in the international literature on this subject, only posture analyses of drivers have been conducted or the effects on pain and discomfort in the short term after the intervention have been examined. In the literature, drivers stated that seats with lumbo-sacral support were more comfortable than standard seats. In this study, the effect on pain and discomfort will be examined by following the drivers for 3 months. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of the use of lumbar region support in bus drivers by following them for 3 months in terms of back pain and discomfort caused by long working hours and incorrect posture.

02

Conditions studied

  • Low Back Pain (LBP)
  • Low Back Disorder

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Keywords

  • Lumbar Region Support
03

In context

Low Back Pain

2,875 studies on the registry are indexed under Low Back Pain; 484 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 104 is above the median of 60 across 2,315 interventional studies indexed under Low Back Pain.

Browse Low Back Pain studies →

Lead sponsor

Pamukkale University is the lead sponsor of 340 studies on the registry; 62 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 65 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Those with back pain and discomfort
  • Those who have been a bus driver for at least 1 year

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Having been a bus driver for less than 1 year
  • Having any orthopedic, neurological, rheumatological or metabolic disease diagnosed due to back pain
  • Having had spinal surgery
  • Using medication for a diagnosed back problem
  • Having received physiotherapy/physical therapy for a diagnosed back pain problem
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Factorial assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
104 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Spinal health training

    It focuses on basic body knowledge, correct posture and spinal health; common spinal problems, especially in drivers, and their prevention. It covers how a healthy spine should look like, what to look out for during and after working hours, correct driver seat adjustments and stretching and strengthening exercises to maintain spinal health.

    Other: Training was provided on spinal health.

  • Active comparator
    Spinal health training and lumbar region support

    It focuses on basic body knowledge, correct posture and spinal health; common spinal problems, especially in drivers, and their prevention. It covers how a healthy spine should look like, what to look out for during and after working hours, correct driver seat adjustments and stretching and strengthening exercises to maintain spinal health. In addition, lumbar region support was used during working hours for 3 months.

    Other: Training on spinal health was provided and lumbar region support was applied for 3 months.

  • No intervention
    Control

    Control group; there is no intervention.

Interventions

  • OtherTraining was provided on spinal health.

    Bus drivers were told about the practices they could do during and outside of work hours, and were asked to comply with these practices every day for 3 months.

  • OtherTraining on spinal health was provided and lumbar region support was applied for 3 months.

    Bus drivers were told about the practices they could do during and outside of work hours, and were asked to comply with these practices every day for 3 months. In addition, lumbar region support was used every day during working hours for 3 months.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA)

    Posture assessment was performed before the intervention and after three months of lumbar support use. The Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) assesses the risk of musculoskeletal disorders by analyzing body posture during work. It rates the level of risk on a scale of 1 to 15, with higher scores indicating a higher risk of musculoskeletal disorders due to poor posture. This assessment was used to demonstrate the impact of posture on low back pain and discomfort.

    Time frame: 3 months

  2. Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire

    A musculoskeletal questionnaire was conducted before the intervention and 3 months after the spine health training. The Extended Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to assess musculoskeletal disorders. This questionnaire collects information about current, past month and past 12 months musculoskeletal problems in nine different parts of the body (neck, shoulder, elbow, hand/wrist, back, waist, hip/thigh, knee, foot/ankle). It also collects information on how often these pains/discomforts occur, whether they decrease on vacation days and the severity of the pain. This questionnaire was used to evaluate the effectiveness of spine health training.

    Time frame: 3 months

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Pamukkale University
    Denizli, Turkey (Türkiye)
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 24, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06841107
Responsible party
Ece Arık (Principal Investigator, Pamukkale University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 24, 2025
Start date
Oct 3, 2022
Primary completion
Dec 28, 2023
Completion
Jun 25, 2024
Last update
Feb 24, 2025

Study contacts

Ali Kitiş, Professor
study director · Pamukkale University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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