Author(s): GARNIER, S., TARIN, L.1, PRIGENT, Y.1, RAUZY, O.1, MAURIEGE, P.2, Institution: UNIVERSITÉ PAUL SABATIER , Country: FRANCE, Abstract-ID: 1571

INTRODUCTION:

Sedentariness has become one of the largest public health concerns, which has sedentary behavior impacts on adverse health outcomes is emerging. Worksites have been identified as ideal settings to favor physical activity among workers (Owen et al. 2020). Physical activity protocols (PAP) contribute to reducing MSDs in workers (Van Eerd et al. 2022) and increase health and fitness indicator (Genin et al. 2018). The number of workers suffering from work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), estimated to account for 21 to 28 % of all days of occupational sick leaves, is a major health problem for employees (Luger et al. 2019).

Objectives
To evaluate the 3-month effects of a daily PAP named SMS (Strength, Mobility and Stretch) on some anthropometric measurements, body composition, handgrip strength, MSDs and perceived health among university workers.
METHODS:

A daily 15-minute PAP during working hours was set up within a department of the university.
Eighteen volunteers (5 men/13 women), mean age 45 ±12 yrs old were tested for body composition, handgrip strength at both hands. Subjective measurements via the completion of two questionnaires: the Nordic one to analyze musculoskeletal symptoms (Kuorinka et al., 1987) and another to assess different aspects of perceived health (Garnier et al., 2013) were also performed. Wilcoxon tests were used to determine differences between before and after the 3-month of the PAP, and statistical significance was set up at p <.05.

RESULTS:

After 3 months of implementing the PAP program among university workers, handgrip strength (p <.01), perceived sleep quality (p <.025) perceived stress level (p <.01), score reflected upper body pain (p<.01) improved and fat mass decreased (p<.025).
CONCLUSION:

Although exploratory, our results suggest that a15-minute daily PAP during working hours could be useful for breaking sedentary behavior associated with sedentary work and that it could help reducing MSDs and thus contribute to improving health and well-being at work.

References

Garnier et al. Menopause. 2013.
Genin et al. Frontiers in public health. 2018.
Kuorinka et al. Applied ergonomics. 1987
Luger et al. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. 2019.
Owen et al. Annual review of public health. 2020
Van Eerd et al. Inquiry. 2022.