The role of active ergonomic training intervention on upper limb musculoskeletal pain and discomfort: A cluster randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Active ergonomic training and workstation adjustments have the potential to decrease the risk of work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (WRULD) among computer users. Therefore, this study assessed the effectiveness of active ergonomic training and workstation adjustments in reducing the upper limb musculoskeletal pain and discomfort among two hundred administrative workers from eight randomly selected faculties or institutes of the University of Malaya. A two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial was implemented. The intervention group received active ergonomic training which comprises several intervention packages, whereas the control group was provided with a basic occupational health talk. The duration of the study was twelve months and data collection was performed at baseline, 6-month, and 12-month points, respectively. Data were analyzed using the repeated measures ANOVA and Generalized Estimating Equations analysis. The results showed that there was an increased odds for participants in the control group to be diagnosed with WRULD at the twelfth month compared to those in the intervention group (OR: 2.05; 95% CI: 1.05, 3.97). In addition, the intervention group had a larger reduction of pain as compared to the control group where the mean difference (95% CI) of pain score was 0.71 (0.30, 1.12) for the neck, 0.49 (0.06, 0.92) for the shoulder, 0.11 (−0.15, 0.37) for the elbow as well as 0.69 (0.28, 1.09) for the hand and wrist. This study demonstrated that active ergonomic training intervention could reduce the upper limb musculoskeletal pain and discomfort among the administrative workers. The findings suggested that active ergonomic training could be one of the effective, inexpensive and reasonably easy intervention programmes that can be implemented in the office settings of universities to inculcate good computer ergonomic habits and practices.