ArticleAnnals of work exposures and health2024
Association between musculoskeletal pain and exposures to awkward postures during work: a compositional analysis approach.
Article in Annals of work exposures and health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Can home care work be organized to promote musculoskeletal health for workers? Results from the GoldiCare cluster randomized controlled trial.BMC health services research · 2025Trial
- Work demands and physical activity in hospital employees with different degrees of musculoskeletal pain: descriptive data from the STUNTH study, Norway.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Article
- Insiders as outsiders: burnout and its determinants among acupuncture practitioners in China's public hospitals.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders: A prospective cohort study.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2025Article
- What determines childcare workers physical behaviours at work? An investigation of determinants at the institution, team, and worker levels in Danish day nurseries.Annals of work exposures and health · 2025Article
- Effects of pain management on work ability in aging workers with chronic musculoskeletal pain: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The "sweet- and sour-spot" of occupational physical activity for back pain: a prospective accelerometer study among eldercare workers.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to explore the association between arm elevation and neck/shoulder pain, and trunk forwarding bending and low back pain among home care workers.
methodsHome care workers (N = 116) from 11 home care units in Trondheim, Norway, filled in pain assessment and working hours questionnaire, and wore 3 accelerometers for up to 7 consecutive days. Work time was partitioned into upright awkward posture, nonawkward posture, and nonupright time, i.e. sitting. Within a compositional approach framework, posture time compositions were expressed in terms of log-ratio coordinates for statistical analysis and modeling. Poisson generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze the relationship between arm elevation in upright postures and neck/shoulder pain, and between trunk forward bending in upright postures and low back pain, respectively. Isotemporal substitution analysis was used to investigate the association of pain assessment with the reallocation of time spent in the different postures.
resultsTime spent in awkward postures was modest, especially for the more extreme angles (60° and 90°). Adjusting for age, gender, and body mass index, our study suggested that the compositions of time spent by home care workers in awkward postures were significantly associated with pain assessment (P < 0.01). Isotemporal substitution analysis showed that reallocating 5 min from upright posture with arms elevated below to above 60° and 90° was associated with a 6.8% and 19.9% increase in the neck/shoulder pain score, respectively. Reallocating 5 min from a forward bending posture while upright below to above 30°, 60°, and 90° was associated with 1.8%, 3.5%, and 4.0% increase in low back pain, respectively.
conclusionsAlthough the exposure to awkward postures was modest, our results showed an association between increased time spent in awkward postures and an increase in neck/shoulder pain and low back pain in home care workers. As musculoskeletal pain is the leading cause of sickness absence, these findings suggest that home care units could benefit from re-organizing work to avoid excessive arm elevation and trunk forward bending in workers.
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