Workplace Exercise Intervention in Administrative Personnel to Reduce Spinal Pain

Universitat de Lleida

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Back Pain; Sedentary Behavior

Treatments: Behavioral: Therapeutic Exercise Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05571124

WEI

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this Clinical trial is to compare treatments in sedentary administrative personnel with back pain. The main question it aims to answer:

The benefits of a workplace intervention with therapeutic exercise and pain education compared with only therapeutic exercise intervention

Participants will perform active pauses in their workplace with a web-based program that consists of videos or images of exercises and pain education information.

Researchers will compare a group Therapeutic exercise and pain education intervention with a group therapeutic exercise only to see if pain education plus exercise is a more beneficial intervention in reducing back pain in symptomatic administrative personnel.

Full description

Introduction: Musculoskeletal pathologies are one of the leading causes of disability for the population worldwide, with office workers being one of the most affected groups. This study aims to design and implement a programme of therapeutic exercise and pain education in the workplace to reduce musculoskeletal pathology. The use of therapeutic exercise interventions at work is an economical and feasible option in which it is essential to consider biopsychosocial aspects when designing a successful treatment.

Methods: Mixed methodology study. Phase 1: A qualitative study with a phenomenological approach using semi-structured interviews to determine factors related to office workers' expectations about pain, maintaining static postures at work and implementing active breaks. Phase 2: Implementation of a Randomised Controlled Trial considering current scientific evidence and the results of the first phase with two intervention groups. A group in which therapeutic exercise will be performed at work with pain education, compared to a group implementing only exercise at the workplace.

Discussion: This study is a comprehensive and pragmatic intervention to implement therapeutic exercise in the workplace, considering workers' expectations regarding their pain and the implementation of active breaks. The use of digitalisation in the implementation of therapeutic exercise and pain education in office workers is a feasible and low-cost option. It can improve office workers' quality of life by increasing motivation and adherence to such interventions.

Enrollment: 66 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• More than 80% of the working day is in a seated position.
• Workers who have a computer or mobile device with an internet connection.
• Workers with more than three months of pain in the back area due to a non-specific cause.

Exclusion Criteria:-

• Part-time workers.
• Pathologies that cause chronic pain.
• Radiculopathies or symptomatic disc herniations/protrusions.
• Inability to perform low-moderate intensity exercise.
• People who are active in their daily lives outside of work willing to report that they meet the minimum stipulated by the WHO (a minimum of 10,000 steps per day and 75-150 minutes of vigorous-moderate physical activity per week).
• Undergoing physiotherapy treatment through public health or a private company.
• Workers on sick leave or during pregnancy.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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66 participants in 2 patient groups

Therapeutic exercise

Experimental group

Description:

It consists of implementing active breaks at the workstation through the use of the open source Learning Management System Sakai \[33\], It will be easy to use by the participants due to the platform is used by them in their daily work. Also, an administrative worker from the university will be involved in creating the modules where the content will be allocated to ensure that the navigation in the platform is user-friendly for them.musculoskeletal pathologies with sedentary lifestyles and maintained postures. The type of online application will depend on the results obtained in the qualitative phase, as we will adapt to the workers' preferences to facilitate accessibility to the content and make the experience as satisfactory as possible for them.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Therapeutic Exercise Intervention

No intervention

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants of the control group will be on a waiting list, encouraging them to maintain the same as usual in their daily activities and working hours. Once the intervention is finished, they will have access to the platform with the same content as the intervention group.