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D.-E. Rueda-Capistrán1, M.-D. Pérez-Ledesma1, M. Tamayo-Ortiz2
1Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Physiotherapy Department, Mexico City, Mexico, 2Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Unidad de Investigación de Salud en el Trabajo, Mexico City, Mexico
Background: Low back pain is associated with occupational causes. Also, it is the first cause of functional limitation and absenteeism in workers under 45 years. Furthermore, the risk of injury is high due to prolonged postures, inadequate furniture, and a sedentary lifestyle, which is why muscle weakness in the abdominal region and shortening of the hip muscles are common.
Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a therapeutic exercise program in reducing pain in office workers with mechanical low back pain after a prolonged period of teleworking.
Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among workers of the Mexican Institute of Social Security who worked in central offices between October 2021 and March 2022.
Ninety-three workers presented lumbar musculoskeletal symptoms through the standardized Nordic Questionnaire, of which 39 were diagnosed with mechanical and chronic low back pain. The level of lumbar disability was also identified with the Oswestry and Roland-Morris Questionnaire, the level of physical activity with the IPAQ Questionnaire, trunk flexibility, and pain intensity with the Visual Analogue Scale. In addition, bivariate analyses were carried out with a t-test and McNemar. The intervention consisted of education for postural hygiene, muscle stretching, stability exercises, and trunk muscle strengthening for 12 weeks.
Ninety-three workers presented lumbar musculoskeletal symptoms through the standardized Nordic Questionnaire, of which 39 were diagnosed with mechanical and chronic low back pain. The level of lumbar disability was also identified with the Oswestry and Roland-Morris Questionnaire, the level of physical activity with the IPAQ Questionnaire, trunk flexibility, and pain intensity with the Visual Analogue Scale. In addition, bivariate analyses were carried out with a t-test and McNemar. The intervention consisted of education for postural hygiene, muscle stretching, stability exercises, and trunk muscle strengthening for 12 weeks.
Results: The average age of the sample was 43.51±8.82 years, 67.7% were female, and the average body weight was 74.49±12.43 kg. In the pre and post-intervention analysis, a significant difference was found in pain intensity t=9.33 (4.20-6.54 IC95%) p = 0.001, trunk flexibility t=5.05 (0.76-1.80 IC95%) p=0.001, level of physical activity was low 8.6%, moderate 51.4% and high 40%. Level of functionality with the Oswestry and Roland_Morris questionnairesx² =11.28 (8.01-6.17 IC95%) andx²= 28.26 (4.04-4.11IC95%), p=0.05 in both tests.
Conclusions: The results suggest that a progressive therapeutic exercise program effectively reduces chronic low back pain of mechanical origin in office workers after prolonged teleworking.
Implications: Regarding the study's limitations, the number of repetitions, the intensity, and the speed of the exercise was only modified on three occasions due to episodes of worsening symptoms. Finally, for future studies, it is recommended to stratify patients according to the chronicity of the disease; contemplate the progression and dosage of exercise based on functional work activities, and train the worker to be more actively involved in their recovery process.
Funding acknowledgements: This work was unfunded.
Keywords:
Low back pain
Office workers
Therapeutic exercise
Low back pain
Office workers
Therapeutic exercise
Topics:
Occupational health & ergonomics
Musculoskeletal: spine
Musculoskeletal
Occupational health & ergonomics
Musculoskeletal: spine
Musculoskeletal
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social
Committee: Comité Nacional de Ética e Investigación Científica
Ethics number: R-2021-785-042
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
