Preventing Neck & Back Pain in Teleworking Office Workers: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Neck Pain; Low Back Pain; Back Pain
• Interventions: Other: Exercise program

• Registration Number: NCT04783454
• Lead Sponsor: University Ghent

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of a general training program and educational session to prevent neck and/or low back pain in desktop workers

Detailed Description

After being informed about the study and potential risks, all subjects that met the preset inclusion criteria and gave written informed consent to participate will be randomized into an intervention or control group in a 1:1 ratio. Next, subjects of both groups will undergo baseline testing (online survey). The subjects of the intervention group receive a single educational video (online) and are motivated to follow 2 training sessions of 60 minutes each, during 12 consecutive weeks. Instructions for the specific exercises are provided via an online platform. The subjects of the control group are instructed to maintain their normal working activities and activities of daily life and receive no further intervention. Subjects of both groups are prompted to fill out a weekly online logbook to gather information on their physical activity and neck and/or back complaints. All subjects undergo post-intervention testing at 12 weeks (short term effects), 6 months, and 12 months (long term effects).

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2020-11-12
• Study First Submitted: 2021-02-26
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-03-02
• Study First Posted: 2021-03-05
• Status Verified: 2023-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-11-15
• Last Update Posted: 2023-11-18
• Primary Completion: 2028-11-30
• Study Completion: 2028-12-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 600

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

• documented structural neck- and/or back pathology (confirmed by medical imaging)
• known shoulder or vestibular pathology
• whiplash-associated disorders
• history of surgery in the neck, shoulder, hip, and/or back area
• (history of) chronic pain condition
• serious headache
• serious cardiovascular/metabolic/systemic/neurological conditions
• chronic fatigue syndrome
• fibromyalgia
• psychiatric conditions or history of serious depression
• serious catastrophizing thoughts
• pregnancy or delivery in the past year

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention	Exercise program	* single (online) educational video on how the prevention program is designed and general advice on (how to adopt) a healthy lifestyle * 12-week training program: 2 sessions of 60 minutes per week, with the focus of the first session on cardiovascular exercises, and the focus of the second session on mobility and strengthening exercises

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
low back pain	1 year	Did you develop low back pain (YES or NO)
neck pain	1 year	Did you develop neck pain (YES or NO)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21 questionnaire)	1year	fear, depressive mood, and stress due to COVID-19 crisis and confinement (21 items, Each item is scored from 0 to 3 and is doubled so the global ISI score ranges from 0 to 42)
use of (pain) medication and/or (para)medical care	1year	use of (pain) medication and/or (para)medical care (name, dosage/frequency, effect, prescribed or direct acces)
behavioral change	1 year	Tendency to remain physically active (PA) during working hours as compared to before your participation in this study (Likert-type scale: not at all PA - slightly less PA - equally PA - slightly more PA - clearly more PA)
global perceived effect	1year	What is your global perceived effect of the intervention program (NRS - score/100)
physical activity (Baecke Questionnaire)	1year	physical activity measurement (activities are scored on a scale of 1-5 with the total scored from 3-15. the lower the score, the less physically active)
time to exposure	1year	amount of desktop work (hours/week)
36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36 questionnaire)	1year	quality of life during confinement and telework (item scores are summed to scale scores and transformed into a hundred point scale; scores are transformed so that a higher score indicates better health status)
Insomnia severity index (ISI questionnaire)	1year	quality of sleep during confinement and telework (7 items, Each item is scored from 0 to 4 and the global ISI score ranges from 0 to 28)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Ghent University; 🇧🇪 Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium