Twelve interviews with workers in physically demanding or prolonged standing/walking jobs revealed one main theme, 'Walking a fine line - Balancing challenges in multiple aspects of life due to work-related foot pain', with negative experiences and struggles during both work and leisure time and a sense of resignation to 'grit their teeth' and keep working.
Key Findings
Results
Qualitative content analysis of interviews with workers with foot pain identified one main theme, 'Walking a fine line', and three sub-themes describing balancing challenges across work and personal life.
Twelve individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine women and three men.
Participants were employed in highly physically demanding occupations or occupations characterised by prolonged standing or walking.
Data were analysed using Qualitative Content Analysis.
The main theme was 'Walking a fine line - Balancing challenges in multiple aspects of life due to work-related foot pain'.
Results
Specific work conditions and environmental factors directly exacerbated foot pain.
The sub-theme was 'Struggling with increased pain due to work conditions and environment'.
Aggravating factors included certain types of floors, physical work demands, time spent on the feet, walking, heavy lifting, and inadequate footwear.
Results
Participants felt limited control over workplace organisation, which contributed to feeling like 'just another cog in the machine'.
The sub-theme was 'Feeling like just another cog in the machine due to limited control over workplace organisation'.
Difficulties included influencing work tasks, planning daily tasks and responsibilities, and communication within the workplace.
Participants also described a lack of recovery during the workday.
Results
Work-related foot pain negatively affected life outside work, including social participation, family relations, emotions, and sleep.
The sub-theme was 'Experiencing inequality and low quality of life outside of work'.
Consequences included restricted social participation, strained family relations, negative emotions, and sleep disturbances.
The findings describe the mental toll of living and working with foot pain.
Conclusions
Participants expressed resignation, feeling they had to 'grit their teeth' and continue working despite pain.
Overall, individuals described a sense of resignation about their situation.
The central findings were negative experiences and struggles during both work and leisure time.
Conclusions
The authors conclude that understanding these experiences can help employers and healthcare providers identify work-related risks and consider preventative measures, while noting further research is needed.
External work-environment factors and internal experiences of autonomy were described as shaping individuals' overall life situation.
Prior research documents prevalence across sectors, but experiences and total life impact of work-related foot pain remain little explored.
What This Means
This study interviewed twelve people (nine women and three men) who work in physically demanding jobs or jobs that involve a lot of standing or walking, and who live with foot pain. The researchers wanted to understand how the pain affects not just their work, but their whole lives.
Participants described a constant balancing act. At work, hard floors, heavy lifting, long hours on their feet, and unsuitable footwear made the pain worse. Many felt they had little say over how work was organised, how they planned tasks, or when they could rest, which left them feeling like replaceable parts of a machine. Outside work, the pain limited social activities, strained family relationships, caused negative emotions, and disturbed sleep. Many felt resigned and said they simply had to push through the pain and keep working.
This research suggests that foot pain in these jobs is not only a physical problem but also affects mental well-being and family life. The findings may help employers and healthcare providers recognise work-related risks and think about preventive measures, such as more recovery time and more worker influence over tasks. Because this was a small interview study, further research is needed.
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Hörnell A, Fjellman-Wiklund A, Svedmark &, Tengman E. (2026). The impact of work-related foot pain on work and personal life: an interview study.. BMC musculoskeletal disorders. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-026-10624-3