Implementation of Physical Exercise at the Workplace (IRMA06) - Slaughterhouse Workers

National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark

Status: Completed

Conditions: Musculoskeletal Disorders

Treatments: Behavioral: Ergonomic; Behavioral: Strength training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01671267

IRMA06

Details and patient eligibility

About

The prevalence of pain in the shoulder, arm and hand is high among slaughterhouse workers, allegedly due to the substantial load of these body regions during work. Work disability is a common consequence of these pains. Lowering the physical exposure through ergonomic intervention may be a strategy to reduce the workload. An alternative strategy could be to increase the physical capacity through strength training of the shoulder-, arm- and hand-muscles. This study investigates the effect of two contrasting interventions, i.e. load reduction (ergonomic intervention) versus training of physical capacity (strength training) on pain and work disability in slaughterhouse workers.

The main hypothesis is that strength training intervention for 10 weeks compared with ergonomic intervention results in reduced pain of the shoulder, arm and hand.

Enrollment: 66 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 67 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Slaughterhouse worker
• the pain should have lasted at least 3 months
• pain intensity during the last three months of >= 3 (scale 0-10) in the shoulder, elbow or hand
• the pain should be frequent (at least 3 days per week)

Exclusion criteria

• life threatening disease
• pregnancy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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66 participants in 2 patient groups

Strength training

Experimental group

Description:

Strength training of the shoulder, arm and hand muscles for 3 x 10 minutes a week.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Strength training

Ergonomic

Active Comparator group

Description:

Receives counseling on workstation adjustment and optimal use of the work tools.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Ergonomic