The prevention of musculoskeletal complaints: long-term effect of a work-related psychosocial coaching intervention compared to physiotherapy alone—a randomized controlled trial

PURPOSE: Research shows that psychosocial factors play a significant role in the emergence of musculoskeletal complaints (MSC). The aim of this study was to determine the long-term effects on unspecific MSC by a combined physiotherapy and coaching intervention compared to physiotherapy alone. The coaching intervention focussed on enabling better strategies for coping with work stressors. METHODS: The participants of a previous randomized controlled intervention were invited to participate again in a third follow-up survey 22 months after the end of the intervention. In 2014, 65 nurses completed a 10-week personalised physiotherapy. Additionally, the intervention group (n = 33) passed five individual coaching sessions, plus an opening and closing session. 44 nurses (IG: n = 24; CG: n = 20) passed again a physical examination as well as another questionnaire assessment in 2016. The primary outcome was MSC, secondary outcomes were work ability and work-related well-being. Due to missing data, multiple imputations were conducted using the mice package in R. Data were analysed by ANOVA with two-way repeated measures, t tests for independent samples and Chi-squared tests. RESULTS: In respect of MSC, stronger improvement of movement in the vertebral column was observed in the IG compared to the CG. No differences between the IG and CG regarding other long-term effects were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the combined intervention of work-related coaching and physiotherapy had only a marginally stronger long-term effect with respect to MSC than physiotherapy alone.