Yesterday I found myself helping finish a mass mailing in the print shop where I work. This section of the shop has concrete floors covered with thin stick-on tile, whereas the rest of the shop’s concrete floors have thick rubber mats to stand on. I can stand all day on the rubber mats and get minimal fatigue but after only about an hour of standing on the concrete floor, my whole body is fatigued and all my joints hurt as well as my back. I wear good shoes with sufficient arch support, but that doesn’t seem to help much. A day in the mail room is truly a day in hell. Why is this?
I think it’s a combination of two factors; bare or minimally covered concrete floors are almost completely inelastic; there’s almost zero cushioning effect when your foot impacts the surface and there’s no ‘give’ when the load on your foot shifts; your feet, legs and spine do all the deforming in every case of interaction. This isn’t the case with wooden floors or even those that consist of concrete blocks or panels over a steel framework; the amount of ‘give’ might seem trivial, but added up as a bunch of tiny knocks over the course of the day, it makes a difference you can feel.
But there’s also thermal conduction; if you’re wearing fairly thin-soled shoes, bare concrete is quite good at wicking away the heat from your feet; this causes constriction of the circulation; less oxygen getting to your tissues means they’re going to fatigue more readily.
There is a third factor, but I’m not sure if it’s real; psychology; you may be unconsciously altering your gait and/or stance as a reaction to how you feel (physically, or otherwise) the floor; this unusual or awkward posture, however slight, could leave you aching at the end of the day.
I would recommend getting some footwear with thick, shock-absorbing soles. Doc Marten’s boots would seem ideal.
What Mangetout said I reckon. Possibly the rough surface of the concrete might not help either, as all the rough little ridges hinder the ability to do little tiny adjustments in foot position by making it difficult to slide the sole against the floor surface. Concrete surfaces aren’t pleasant to work on, and are tedious to clean, and so most employers will at least cover a concrete floor with self-levelling compound and/or floor paint.
I have crashed and slammed my body against all sorts of hard surfaces, and I have to say concrete is my least favourite. Even asphalt and hard baked clay have a little give.
That’s a very good point that I had overlooked and should not be underestimated. This will place torsional stress particularly on the hip and knee joints.
If the job has you standing in just a few places, then a low-tech solution is simply to get hold of some carpet scraps big enough to stand on, and place them where needed. I find this helps a lot.
Thanks for all the replies you all, and as well I must give Mangetout a standing ovation for a very well thought out reply. Now I have some extra leverage in getting some floor coverings (carpet/padding or rubber tiles) since I have some information to present.
After all, the areas in the shop where most of the work gets done are concrete, covered with 2 inch thick rubber tiles, which I reckon are made from recycled tires as far as I can tell. They’re worth their weight in gold, no doubt.
Personally, I spend most of my time sitting in a chair doing graphic design, but I want my coworkers to be comfortable as well as myself when we’re stuck in the mass mailing room. Thanks again folks.
Another satisfied customer of the Teeming Millions
LiQUiDBuD
I’m not sure whether the mats you mentioned in your opening post are fitted in situ, but if so, there are such things as cushioned rubber work mats that you just drop in place; they are designed for exactly the purpose of making it more comfortable to work standing on bare concrete floors; a few of these strategically placed might do the trick.
The outdoor hot dog vendors here often use those rubber mats, placed on the sidewalk beside their carts. It’s a lot more comfy for them than standing on concrete all day.
Why is this?
