Evaluating Short-Term Musculoskeletal Pain Changes in Desk-Based Workers Receiving a Workplace Sitting-Reduction Intervention

This paper explores changes in musculoskeletal pain among desk-based workers over three months of a workplace-delivered, sitting-reduction intervention. Participants (n = 153, 46% female
mean &plusmn
SD aged 38.9 &plusmn
8.0 years) were cluster-randomized (n = 18 work teams) to receive an organizational change intervention, with or without an activity tracker. A modified Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire assessed pain intensity (0&ndash
9
none&ndash
worst possible) in the neck, upper and lower back, upper and lower extremities, and in total. The activPAL3 (7 days, 24 h/day protocol) measured sitting and prolonged sitting in &ge
30 min bouts at work. Mixed models adjusting for cluster and intervention arm examined changes in pain (n = 104), and their associations with reductions in sitting and prolonged sitting (h/10 h at work) (n = 90). Changes in pain were nonsignificant (p &ge
0.05) and small for total pain (&minus
0.06 [95% CI: &minus
0.27, 0.16]) and for each body area (&minus
0.26 [&minus
0.66, 0.15] for upper back to 0.09 [&minus
0.39, 0.56] for lower back). Sitting reduction was associated with reduced lower back pain (&minus
0.84 [&minus
1.44, &minus
0.25] per hour, p = 0.005)
other effects were small and non-significant. No substantial average changes in pain were seen
some improvement in lower back pain might be expected with larger sitting reductions. Larger samples and diverse interventions are required for more definitive evidence.