Abstract
BackgroundThere is strong evidence that physical exercise in the workplace is effective for reducing workers’ musculoskeletal complaints. Studies with industrial workers and studies on progressive resistance exercises during breaks are scarce. Our aim was to evaluate the effects of a resistance exercise program on perceived fatigue control among industrial workers.Methods204 employees from the dairy industry were allocated to two groups, the intervention group (IG) (n = 98) and the control group (CG) (n = 106). The primary outcome measures were perceived fatigue control and maximum muscle strength, measured through the Need for Recovery Scale and one-repetition maximum contraction (1-RM), respectively. Secondary outcome measures were musculoskeletal complaints, physical activity level, perceived risk factors, physical fitness (BMI, vital signs, and body fat percentage), and workers´ productivity. All outcomes were assessed at baseline and then again after 4 months. The IG performed resistance exercises using progressively greater loads while the CG performed general exercise using elastic bands. The exercise protocols were performed three times per week for 20 min. An intention-to-treat analysis was performed using the mixed linear model. Results were considered significant when p < 0.05.ResultsThe IG did not show to be superior to the CG, although both groups improved perceived fatigue control and muscle strength after the resistance physical exercise program in the worplace. There was also no significant difference between the groups for musculoskeletal complaints and other secondary variables analyzed. However, both groups showed significant improvements between baseline and after 4 months of intervention for all evaluated outcomes (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe implementation of a progressive resistance exercise program during work breaks for perceived fatigue control was no more effective than exercises using elastic bands. However, resistance exercises during work breaks presented better results on all measured outcomes regardless of the exercise protocol used.Trial registrationU.S. National Institutes of Health, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02172053. Registered 19 June 2014.
Highlights
There is strong evidence that physical exercise in the workplace is effective for reducing workers’ musculoskeletal complaints
If over the course of days this rest is not sufficient for recovery of the individual, there is an accumulation of fatigue that leads to overload, which can lead to more serious disease conditions and even chronic fatigue [3,4,5]
A variety of training protocols have been tested in the workplace, including light training without resistance, stretching, relaxation exercises, light aerobic and dynamic exercises, and resistance training using dumbbells, isokinetic equipment, elastic bands, and exercises against gravity [12,13,14,15]
Summary
There is strong evidence that physical exercise in the workplace is effective for reducing workers’ musculoskeletal complaints. Studies has demonstrated several interventions implemented in the workplace to promote the health and safety of workers [7,8,9], but the most effective are exercise-based [9]. While most of these studies have been conducted with office workers who have different job demands than production workers, there is strong evidence for the positive effect of physical exercise in the workplace for all workers group [9,10,11,12,13,14]. Resistance training has been shown to be the most effective for reducing musculoskeletal complaints and perceived physical effort [12,13,14,15,16,17,18]
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