Implementation of Physical Exercise at the Workplace (IRMA08) - Healthcare Workers (IRMA)

• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01921764
• Recruitment Status: Completed
• First Posted: August 13, 2013
• Last Update Posted: January 28, 2014
• Sponsor: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark
• Information provided by (Responsible Party): Lars L. Andersen, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark

Study Description

Brief Summary:

The prevalence and consequences of musculoskeletal pain is considerable among healthcare workers, allegedly due to high physical work demands of healthcare work. Previous studies have shown promising results of physical exercise for relieving pain among different occupational groups, but the question remains whether such physical exercise should be performed at the workplace or in the private sphere at home. Performing physical exercise at the workplace together with colleagues may be more motivating for some employees and thus increase compliance. On the other hand, physical exercise at the workplace may be costly for the employers in terms of time spend. Thus, relevant ground exists to compare the efficacy of workplace- versus home-based training on musculoskeletal pain. This study investigates the effect of workplace-based versus home-based physical exercise on musculoskeletal pain among healthcare workers.

The main hypothesis is that physical exercise at the workplace for 10 weeks compared with physical exercise at home results in reduced musculoskeletal pain among healthcare workers.

Condition or disease	Intervention/treatment	Phase
Musculoskeletal Disorders	Behavioral: Workplace physical exercise; Behavioral: Home physical exercise	Not Applicable

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional (Clinical Trial)
• Actual Enrollment: 200 participants
• Allocation: Randomized
• Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Official Title: Implementation of Physical Exercise at the Workplace (IRMA08) - Healthcare Workers
• Study Start Date: September 2013
• Actual Primary Completion Date: December 2013
• Actual Study Completion Date: January 2014

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/treatment
Experimental: Workplace physical exercise; Physical exercise (kettlebells, elastic bands, exercise balls) performed at the workplace with coaching	Behavioral: Workplace physical exercise
Active Comparator: Home physical exercise; Physical exercise performed at home with elastic bands and bodyweight exercises with instruction to follow the exercises at http://www.jobogkrop.dk/Oevelser-til-nakke-og-ryg/Oevelser	Behavioral: Home physical exercise

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures :

1. Pain intensity [ Time Frame: change from baseline to week 10 ]
   The change in "pain intensity during the last week" from baseline to 10 week follow-up between the workplace- and home-training group. The home-training group will be considered the reference group. 2-way analysis of variance (Proc Mixed of SAS) with repeated measures will be used, with time and group as fixed factors and subject as random factor. Department will be added as a cluster effect.

Secondary Outcome Measures :

1. Muscle function [ Time Frame: change from baseline to week 10 ]
2. Work ability index (WAI) [ Time Frame: change from baseline to week 10 ]
3. Physical exertion during work [ Time Frame: change from baseline to week 10 ]

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years to 67 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Sexes Eligible for Study: Female
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• healthcare worker
• female
• age 18-67

Exclusion Criteria:

• life threatening disease
• pregnancy

Contacts and Locations

Locations

Denmark

National Research Centre for the Working Environment

Copenhagen, Denmark, 2100

Sponsors and Collaborators

National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark

More Information

Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):

Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Brandt M, Andersen LL. Psychosocial benefits of workplace physical exercise: cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2017 Oct 10;17(1):798. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4728-3.

Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Brandt M, Jay K, Aagaard P, Andersen LL. Physical exercise at the workplace prevents deterioration of work ability among healthcare workers: cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2015 Nov 25;15:1174. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2448-0.

Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Brandt M, Jay K, Aagaard P, Andersen LL. Effect of Workplace- versus Home-Based Physical Exercise on Muscle Response to Sudden Trunk Perturbation among Healthcare Workers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:902896. doi: 10.1155/2015/902896. Epub 2015 Oct 25.

Jakobsen MD, Sundstrup E, Brandt M, Kristensen AZ, Jay K, Stelter R, Lavendt E, Aagaard P, Andersen LL. Effect of workplace- versus home-based physical exercise on pain in healthcare workers: study protocol for a single blinded cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2014 Apr 7;15:119. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-15-119.

• Responsible Party: Lars L. Andersen, Professor, PhD, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Denmark
• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01921764
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRMA08
• First Posted: August 13, 2013
• Last Update Posted: January 28, 2014
• Last Verified: January 2014

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Musculoskeletal Diseases