title: Physical exercise at the workplace reduces perceived physical exertion during healthcare work: cluster randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High physical exertion during work is a risk factor for musculoskeletal pain and long-term sickness absence. Physical exertion (RPE) reflects the balance between physical work demands and physical capacity of the individual. Thus, increasing the physical capacity through physical exercise may decrease physical exertion during work. This study investigates the effect of workplace-based versus home-based physical exercise on physical exertion during work (WRPE) among healthcare workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  200 female healthcare workers (age: 42.0, body mass index: 24.1, average pain intensity: 3.1 on a scale of 0 to 10, average WRPE: 3.6 on a scale of 0 to 10) from 18 departments at three participating hospitals. Participants were randomly allocated at the cluster level to 10 weeks of: (1) workplace physical exercise (WORK) performed in groups during working hours for 5×10 minutes per week and up to five group-based coaching sessions on motivation for regular physical exercise, or (2) home-based physical exercise (HOME) performed during leisure time for 5×10 minutes per week. Physical exertion was assessed at baseline and at 10-week follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  2.2 (SD: 1.1) and 1.0 (SD: 1.2) training sessions were performed per week in WORK and HOME, respectively. Physical exertion was reduced more in WORK than HOME (p<0.01). Between-group differences in physical exertion at follow-up (WORK vs. HOME) was -0.5 points (95% CI -0.8 to -0.2). Within-group effect size (Cohen's d) in WORK and HOME was 0.43 and 0.13, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physical exercise performed at the workplace appears more effective than home-based exercise in reducing physical exertion during daily work tasks in healthcare workers.
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, SDU Muscle Research Cluster (SMRC), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark markusdue@gmail.dk.
authors.forename: Markus Due
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Jakobsen
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, SDU Muscle Research Cluster (SMRC), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Emil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sundstrup
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark Physical Activity and Human Performance group, SMI, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mikkel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, SDU Muscle Research Cluster (SMRC), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark Electronics and Computer Science, Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jay
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, SDU Muscle Research Cluster (SMRC), University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aagaard
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lars L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003718:Denmark; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005082:Physical Exertion; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D017132:Workplace
keywords: Borg; Musculoskeletal disorders; back pain; occupational health; strength training