Elsevier

Manual Therapy

Volume 15, Issue 1, February 2010, Pages 100-104
Manual Therapy

Original Article
Effect of physical exercise interventions on musculoskeletal pain in all body regions among office workers: A one-year randomized controlled trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.math.2009.08.004Get rights and content

Abstract

This study investigated effects of physical exercise on musculoskeletal pain symptoms in all regions of the body, as well as on other musculoskeletal pain in association with neck pain. A single blind randomized controlled trial testing a one-year exercise intervention was performed among 549 office workers; specific neck/shoulder resistance training, all-round physical exercise, or a reference intervention. Pain symptoms were determined by questionnaire screening of twelve selected body regions. Case individuals were identified for each body region as those reporting pain intensities at baseline of 3 or more (scale of 0–9) during the last three months. For neck cases specifically, the additional number of pain regions was counted. Intensity of pain decreased significantly more in the neck, low back, right elbow and right hand in cases of the two exercise groups compared with the reference group (P < 0.0001–0.05). The additional number of pain regions in neck cases decreased in the two exercise groups only (P < 0.01–0.05). In individuals with no or minor pain at baseline, development of pain was minor in all three groups. In conclusion, both specific resistance training and all-round physical exercise for office workers caused better effects than a reference intervention in relieving musculoskeletal pain symptoms in exposed regions of the upper body.

Introduction

Musculoskeletal pain symptoms in the back, neck and extremities are common subjective health complaints (Ferrari and Russell, 2003, Ihlebaek et al., 2006, Sjøgren et al., 2008), with high socioeconomic consequences in terms of health expenses and lost working days (Henderson et al., 2005). In occupational groups with monotonous and repetitive work tasks, e.g. computer users, neck pain is the most prevalent musculoskeletal complaint (Juul-Kristensen et al., 2006). While the aetiology of musculoskeletal pain symptoms is multifactorial with several physical and psychosocial risk factors at work as well as during leisure (National Research Council, Institute of Medicine, 2001, Punnett and Wegman, 2004, Andersen et al., 2007), there is general consensus about the beneficial effect of physical exercise. Both specific muscle training and all-round physical exercise have shown beneficial effects on neck pain as well as low back pain (Hayden et al., 2005, Ylinen, 2007, Andersen et al., 2008b, Blangsted et al., 2008). However, there is lacking knowledge about effects of physical exercise on musculoskeletal complaints in other regions of the body, as well as the preventative effect of exercise on development of pain symptoms in individuals without complaints.

Although neck pain is the most prevalent musculoskeletal complaint in office workers (Blangsted et al., 2008), pain symptoms in other body regions are reported as well (Juul-Kristensen et al., 2006). Thus, it is relevant to assess the effect of different exercise interventions on pain in all regions of the body. Furthermore, people with neck pain are more likely to experience other musculoskeletal pain in association with neck pain (Hagen et al., 2006, Juul-Kristensen et al., 2006) likely due to increased pain sensitivity (Arendt-Nielsen and Graven-Nielsen, 2008). Therefore, it is also relevant to assess the effect of different exercise interventions on other musculoskeletal pain specifically in association with neck pain. Previous randomized controlled trials on rehabilitation of neck/shoulder pain have considered neck/shoulder pain symptoms alone (Waling et al., 2000, Ylinen et al., 2003, Andersen et al., 2008b). In the present group of participants we have recently reported a beneficial effect of specific resistance training and all-round physical exercise on neck/shoulder pain symptoms (Andersen et al., 2008a, Blangsted et al., 2008).

The objective of the present study was to investigate effects of two different physical exercise interventions on (1) musculoskeletal pain in all regions of the body, and (2) other musculoskeletal pain in association with neck pain specifically. We hypothesized that both specific training and all-round physical exercise are more efficient than a reference intervention for reducing and preventing musculoskeletal pain symptoms in different regions of the body among office workers.

Section snippets

Study design

A single blind randomized controlled trial testing a one-year exercise intervention was performed. The procedure of participant recruitment has been described in detail previously (Andersen et al., 2008a, Blangsted et al., 2008). Briefly, participants were office workers recruited from 12 geographically different units of a national Danish public administration authority. Of the 2163 employees invited for the study, 1397 replied to the invitation, and 841 were willing to participate. Exclusion

Baseline

At baseline, the most prevalent pain symptoms were in the neck region, whereas the least prevalent symptoms were in the left hand, left elbow and hips (Table 1). Intensity of neck pain was significantly related to pain in all other regions of the body (P < 0.0001), with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.17 to 0.21 for the left elbow, left hand, hips, knees and feet, 0.26 to 0.27 for the right elbow and right hand, 0.36 for the low back, and 0.46 to 0.57 for the left shoulder, right shoulder

Discussion

The main findings of this study are the beneficial effect of exercise on musculoskeletal pain symptoms in several regions of the upper body, as well as the decrease of additional number of pain regions in neck pain cases specifically. In contrast, the overall preventative effect of exercise in individuals without pain at baseline was less convincing, due to minor development of pain in all three groups.

The baseline questionnaire survey confirmed the high prevalence of neck pain among office

References (27)

  • L. Arendt-Nielsen et al.

    Muscle pain: sensory implications and interaction with motor control

    Clin J Pain

    (2008)
  • A.K. Blangsted et al.

    One-year randomized controlled trial with different physical-activity programs to reduce musculoskeletal symptoms in the neck and shoulders among office workers

    Scand J Work Environ Health

    (2008)
  • C. Brauer et al.

    Can we rely on retrospective pain assessments?

    Am J Epidemiol

    (2003)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text