Association between musculoskeletal pain and telework in the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic: an integrative review

Santos, Iraneide Nascimento dos; Pernambuco, Marília Lopes; Silva, Alice Maria Barbosa da; Ruela, Guilherme de Andrade; Oliveira, Adriana Sarmento de

doi:10.47626/1679-4435-2021-812

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…A previous integrative review by dos Santos et al found that musculoskeletal pain increased during the lockdowns, especially in the lower back and neck regions, which could be explained by an increased sedentary lifestyle, poor posture, and increased physical load due to household chores [ 14 ]. However, compared to this review, more studies were found due to the updated search, and the risk of bias was assessed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Medically codified diseases are included in this definition, like carpal tunnel syndrome or rotator cuff disease, but unspecific conditions like low back pain or neck pain are also included. Although there were some studies on the impact of teleworking on mental health before the COVID-19 pandemic [ 12 ], few of them focused on MSD [ 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Teleworking and Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review

Fadel

Bodin

Cros

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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Teleworking has spread drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic, but its effect on musculo-skeletal disorders (MSD) remains unclear. We aimed to make a qualitative systematic review on the effect of teleworking on MSD. Following the PRISMA guidelines, several databases were searched using strings based on MSD and teleworking keywords. A two-step selection process was used to select relevant studies and a risk of bias assessment was made. Relevant variables were extracted from the articles included, with a focus on study design, population, definition of MSD, confounding factors, and main results. Of 205 studies identified, 25 were included in the final selection. Most studies used validated questionnaires to assess MSD, six considered confounders extensively, and seven had a control group. The most reported MSD were lower back and neck pain. Some studies found increased prevalence or pain intensity, while others did not. Risk of bias was high, with only 5 studies with low/probably low risk of bias. Conflicting results on the effect of teleworking on MSD were found, though an increase in MSD related to organizational and ergonomic factors seems to emerge. Future studies should focus on longitudinal approaches and consider ergonomic and work organization factors as well as socio-economic status.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teleworking and Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review

Fadel

Bodin

Cros

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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“…In particular, the prevalence of neck pain was significantly related to age, sex, health status, job satisfaction, and length of employment. In addition, an increased sedentary lifestyle and incorrect posture appear to promote the onset of musculoskeletal disorders [ 22 ]. The main prevention strategies for avoiding these consequences are: reducing smartphone usage time, maintaining correct posture, performing exercise regularly, and teaching healthy habits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media Devices’ Influence on User Neck Pain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Collaborating Vertebral-GLCM Extracted Features with a Decision Tree

et al. 2023

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The prevalence of neck pain, a chronic musculoskeletal disease, has significantly increased due to the uncontrollable use of social media (SM) devices. The use of SM devices by younger generations increased enormously during the COVID-19 pandemic, being—in some cases—the only possibility for maintaining interpersonal, social, and friendship relationships. This study aimed to predict the occurrence of neck pain and its correlation with the intensive use of SM devices. It is based on nine quantitative parameters extracted from the retrospective X-ray images. The three parameters related to angle_1 (i.e., the angle between the global horizontal and the vector pointing from C7 vertebra to the occipito-cervical joint), angle_2 (i.e., the angle between the global horizontal and the vector pointing from C1 vertebra to the occipito-cervical joint), and the area between them were measured from the shape of the neck vertebrae, while the rest of the parameters were extracted from the images using the gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). In addition, the users’ ages and the duration of the SM usage (H.mean) were also considered. The decision tree (DT) machine-learning algorithm was employed to predict the abnormal cases (painful subjects) against the normal ones (no pain). The results showed that angle_1, area, and the image contrast significantly increased statistically with the time of SM-device usage, precisely in the range of 2 to 9 h. The DT showed a promising result demonstrated by classification accuracy and F1-scores of 94% and 0.95, respectively. Our findings confirmed that the objectively detected parameters, which elucidate the negative impacts of SM-device usage on neck pain, can be predicted by DT machine learning.

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“…Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, teleworking, also known as remote working, has become a new norm for many workers. While there are also findings to the contrary (Argus & Pääsuke, 2021; Rodríguez‐Nogueira et al, 2021), the incidence of musculoskeletal pain has been described as widespread or has increased among these workers during this time (Chirico et al, 2021; Gerding et al, 2021; McAllister et al, 2022), particularly in the back, neck (dos Santos et al, 2021), and shoulders (Gerding et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Teleworkers have also been found to spend more time on the computer than when working in an office and changing posture less frequently (McAllister et al, 2022), but contrary findings have also been presented (Widar et al, 2021). Teleworkers have been described as feeling less comfortable working from home than in the office (Argus & Pääsuke, 2021), and aspects such as poor posture among teleworkers (Aksüt et al, 2022; dos Santos et al, 2021), poorly chosen work equipment (Gerding et al, 2021), poorly adjusted equipment (MacLean et al, 2022), and a sedentary lifestyle have been associated with the development of musculoskeletal pain in teleworkers (dos Santos et al, 2021). Other studies have failed to establish a link between poor ergonomic arrangements in teleworkers and the development of musculoskeletal pain (El Kadri Filho & Roberto de Lucca, 2022; McAllister et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musculoskeletal pain among teleworkers: Frequency and associated factors

Fiorini

2023

Hum Ftrs & Erg Mfg Svc

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Teleworking, also known as remote working, has become the new norm for many workers since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Studies show that during this time, the incidence of musculoskeletal pain is increasing among these workers. Despite this, few studies have addressed the possible correlates of musculoskeletal paśin in teleworkers, with several potential predictors receiving little or no attention in published studies. With this in mind, an online survey was conducted among organizations in the IT and communications sectors in Malta. Information was collected from 459 teleworkers on the frequency of telework, frequency of work during nonworking hours, exercise frequency, burnout, and ergonomic arrangements. Demographic data were also collected. Results revealed that 55.8% reported one or more musculoskeletal pain. Back pain was the most common, followed by neck and shoulder pain. The presence of pain, the number of painful body areas, and the presence of back, neck, and shoulder pain were each individually associated with work during nonworking hours, lower levels of exercise, and higher levels of burnout. It is argued that musculoskeletal pain appears to be common among teleworkers and may negatively impact the quality of life and organizational performance. Companies and occupational health practitioners should strive to identify the prevalence of these problems among their teleworkers, develop appropriate preventive measures, and support workers to obtain multidisciplinary care when needed.

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Association between musculoskeletal pain and telework in the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic: an integrative review

Cited by 18 publications

References 33 publications

Teleworking and Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review

Teleworking and Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review

Social Media Devices’ Influence on User Neck Pain during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Collaborating Vertebral-GLCM Extracted Features with a Decision Tree

Musculoskeletal pain among teleworkers: Frequency and associated factors

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