ArticleFrontiers in public health2022
The mediating role of physical activity and sedentary behavior in the association between working from home and musculoskeletal pain during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- The impact of working from home on sedentary behaviour and physical activity compared to onsite work in the working population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- The associations of sedentary behaviour and physical activity with musculoskeletal symptoms in hybrid office workers: a compositional data analysis.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Development of Digital Strategies for Reducing Sedentary Behavior in a Hybrid Office Environment: Modified Delphi Study.JMIR human factors · 2025Article
- A digital intervention to reduce home-office workers' sedentary behaviour: protocol for the evaluation of the Click2Move programme, a cluster randomised controlled trial.BMC public health · 2025Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated both with physical inactivity and musculoskeletal pain. However, it has not been examined whether physical activity and sedentary behavior are underlying mechanisms in the association between working from home and musculoskeletal pain. Therefore, we examined their mediating role in this association. Methods: Data were used from 24 questionnaire rounds of the Lifelines COVID-19 cohort (March 2020-January 2022). Longitudinal information on work situation (location, home, hybrid), physical activity, sedentary behavior, and musculoskeletal pain was collected among 28,586 workers. Analysis of physical activity/sedentary behavior as mediators of the association between working from home and musculoskeletal pain was performed using multilevel structural equation modeling. Results: Home workers more often had pain in the upper back [odds ratio (OR) = 1.17, 95%-confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-1.34] and arm, neck, and/or shoulder (ANS) (OR = 1.32, 95%-CI = 1.19-1.47) than location workers. Furthermore, home workers were more often sedentary for >9 h per work day than location workers (OR = 2.82, 95%-CI = 2.56-3.09), and being more sedentary was associated with musculoskeletal pain (upper back: OR = 1.17, 95%-CI = 1.06-1.30; ANS: OR = 1.25, 95%-CI = 1.16-1.34). Corresponding indirect effects were OR = 1.18 (95%-CI = 1.04-1.33) and OR = 1.26 (95%-CI = 1.12-1.35). No indirect effect was found for physical activity. Similar indirect effects were observed for hybrid workers. Conclusion: Home and hybrid workers were more likely to have pain in the upper musculoskeletal system during the COVID-19 pandemic than location workers, which was partly mediated by increased sedentary behavior, but not by reduced physical activity. Measures to reduce sedentary time in home workers may contribute to preventing musculoskeletal pain.
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