Physical risk factors for developing non-specific neck pain in office workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis
One page on PainSci cites Jun 2017: The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks
PainSci notes on Jun 2017:
This review of risk factors for neck pain explored in ten prospective cohort studies and two randomized controlled trials found surprisingly different results from other recent review: subjective muscle tension (which is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, based on Huysmans et al), low work satisfaction, repetitive work, and last and least “keyboard position too close to the body” (which is weird, not based on good data, and should not be in the abstract or even in the paper).
None of these risk factors were identified by McLean 2010 or Paksaichol 2012. I don’t have high confidence in the quality of this review.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
INTRODUCTION: Identifying risk factors associated with the development of work-related neck pain in office workers is necessary to facilitate the development of prevention strategies that aim to minimise this prevalent and costly health problem. The aim of this systematic review is to identify individual worker (e.g., lifestyle activity, muscular strength, and posture) and workplace (e.g., ergonomics and work environment) physical factors associated with the development of non-specific neck pain in office workers.
METHODS: Studies from 1980 to 2016 were identified by an electronic search of Pubmed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Psychlnfo and Proquest databases. Two authors independently screened search results, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using the epidemiological appraisal instrument (EAI). A random effect model was used to estimate the risk of physical factors for neck pain.
RESULTS: Twenty papers described the findings of ten prospective cohort studies and two randomized controlled trials. Low satisfaction with the workplace environment (pooled RR 1.28; CI 1.07-1.55), keyboard position close to the body [pooled RR 1.46; (CI 1.07-1.99)], low work task variation [RR 1.27; CI (1.08-1.50)] and self-perceived medium/high muscular tension (pooled RR 2.75/1.82; CI 1.60 /1.14-4.72/2.90) were found to be risk factors for the development of neck pain.
CONCLUSIONS: This review found evidence for a few number of physical risk factors for the development of neck pain, however, there was also either limited or conflicting factors. Recommendations for future studies evaluating risk factors are reported and how these may contribute to the prevention of neck pain in office workers.
related content
- “Psychosocial, Physical, and Neurophysiological Risk Factors for Chronic Neck Pain: A Prospective Inception Cohort Study,” Shahidi et al, Journal of Pain, 2015.
- “Office workers' risk factors for the development of non-specific neck pain: a systematic review of prospective cohort studies,” Paksaichol et al, Occup Environ Med, 2012.
- “Risk factors for the onset of non-specific neck pain: a systematic review,” McLean et al, J Epidemiol Community Health, 2010.
- “Perceived muscular tension predicts future neck-shoulder and arm-wrist-hand symptoms,” Huysmans et al, Occup Environ Med, 2012.
- “Physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in New Zealand nurses, postal workers and office workers,” Harcombe et al, Inj Prev, 2010.
- “The impact of workplace risk factors on the occurrence of neck and upper limb pain: a general population study,” Sim et al, BMC Public Health, 2006.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
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- Gabapentinoids and Risk of Hip Fracture. Leung 2024 JAMA Netw Open.
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