Efficacy of workstation exercise and ergonomic exercise on nursing staff – a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

The nurses’ population comprises of almost majority of the health care staff in the hospitals and other clinical settings. This population was undermined in the past but in recent years, many studies have been focused on this group to increase efficacy along with analyzing and reducing adjoining risks. The illness most frequent for absenteeism and quality of work hampering is back pain. Hence, this study targets the interventions for low back pain in the nurses. The participants (n=120) will be selected from the hospital setting and divided into 3 random groups. Group A will perform work station exercises, group B will undergo ergonomic changes and advices and group C will be the control group. Each group will have 40 participants each and the participants will implement the interventions of the allotted protocol for 2 months. The initial and final changes will be noted as day 1 and day 60. The outcome measures used will be Visual Analog Scale for pain rating and WHO Quality of Life scale (BREF) for ratings in the standard and quality of living. In post intervention, the exercise modification group performed better than the ergonomic advice group. The VAS and the QOL grading showed a significant change. The control group had a non-significant change. This study concluded that both the workplace exercises and the ergonomic advices show a positive impact on low back pain in the nurses. The workplace exercises are although more efficient than the ergonomic advices.