The content and structure of electronic health records in physiotherapy

Abstract

Participants wore an accelerometer for 7 days and completed the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire before the intervention period and again following the 12 week intervention.Accelerometer determined sedentary time, sustained sedentary time, breaks in sedentary time, light activity and MVPA on work days and during work hours was analysed using repeated measures t-tests to evaluate the overall effect of any intervention across all participants. Linear regression models were used to test effects between the organisations and between intervention groups. McNemar’s test was used to assess changes inmusculoskeletal pain following the intervention period. Results: For all participants, therewas a significant reduction in sedentary time on work days (−1.6%, p= 0.006) and during work hours (−1.7%, p= 0.014) and a concurrent significant increase in light activity during work hours (1.5%, p= 0.036) and MVPA on work days (0.6%, p= 0.012). In addition, there was a significant increase in the number of breaks/sedentary hour work days (0.64, p= 0.005) and during work hours (0.72, p= 0.015). Further, following the intervention period, there was no significant difference in the proportion of participants reporting musculoskeletal pain in the different body regions nor was there a significant difference in the reported number of body regions experiencing musculoskeletal pain. Conclusion(s):Participatoryworkplace interventions that modify work practice to reduce occupational sedentary behaviour can reduce sedentary time, increase the frequency of breaks in sedentary time and improve light intensity activity andMVPA of office workers. Small changes in occupational sedentary time did not impact on musculoskeletal symptoms of office workers. Implications: Currently, it is still inconclusive whether changes in occupational sedentary behaviour can change musculoskeletal symptoms of office workers. Further research is needed to establish dose response relationships between occupational sedentary behaviour and various health outcomes, including work-related musculoskeletal symptoms.