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

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Musculoskeletal Disorders
• Interventions: Behavioral: Strength training; Behavioral: Ergonomic

• Registration Number: NCT01671267
• Lead Sponsor: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2012-08
• Study First Submitted: 2012-08-20
• Study First Submitted QC: 2012-08-20
• Study First Posted: 2012-08-23
• Primary Completion: 2012-12
• Study Completion: 2013-02
• Status Verified: 2014-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2014-01-26
• Last Update Posted: 2014-01-28

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 66

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

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Strength training	Strength training	Strength training of the shoulder, arm and hand muscles for 3 x 10 minutes a week.
Ergonomic	Ergonomic	Receives counseling on workstation adjustment and optimal use of the work tools.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Pain intensity	change from baseline to week 10	The change in "pain intensity during the last week" (average value of shoulder, elbow and hand) from baseline to 10 week follow-up between the strength training group and ergonomic group. The ergonomic group will be considered the reference group. 2-way analysis of variance (Proc Mixed of SAS) with repeated measures will be used, with time and group as fixed factors and subject as random factor.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
DASH	change from baseline to week 10	Disability of the arm, shoulder and hand questionnaire (DASH). Only the work-module of DASH will be included. Analyzed the same way as the primary outcome.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

National Research Centre for the Working Environment; 🇩🇰 Copenhagen, Denmark