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Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Leg pain, especially of the knees and hips, is common among senior workers and may limit the ability to perform physically demanding work. In light of the aging workforce, this study determined the joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work-limiting pain i...

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Autores principales: Skovlund, Sebastian Venge, Bláfoss, Rúni, Sundstrup, Emil, Thomassen, Kristina, Andersen, Lars L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7672909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33208134
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09860-6
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author Skovlund, Sebastian Venge
Bláfoss, Rúni
Sundstrup, Emil
Thomassen, Kristina
Andersen, Lars L.
author_facet Skovlund, Sebastian Venge
Bláfoss, Rúni
Sundstrup, Emil
Thomassen, Kristina
Andersen, Lars L.
author_sort Skovlund, Sebastian Venge
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Leg pain, especially of the knees and hips, is common among senior workers and may limit the ability to perform physically demanding work. In light of the aging workforce, this study determined the joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work-limiting pain in senior workers. METHODS: Currently employed senior workers (≥50 years) participated in the SeniorWorkingLife study in 2018 (n = 12,879). Associations between the combination of physical work demands and leg pain intensity (interaction) with work-limiting pain (outcome) were modeled using binary logistic regression analyses while controlling for potential covariates. RESULTS: We found a significant interaction (P < 0.001) between physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work-limiting pain. The combination of higher physical work demands and higher leg pain intensity had the worst outcome in terms of the odds of experiencing work-limiting pain. For example, 70% of those with the combination of high physical work demands and leg pain intensity ≥7 (scale 0–10) experienced that the pain limited them to at least some degree in their work. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of high physical work demands and high leg pain intensity are associated with limited ability to perform work among senior workers. These findings highlight the importance of prioritizing the physical work environment in physically demanding occupations, particularly among senior workers, for prolonging working life. Thus, adjusting the work demands, e.g. through use of assistive devices, and lowering the pain, e.g. through physical rehabilitation, may be necessary to sustain work ability to a high age in this group of workers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This was registered as a cohort study in ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03634410) on the 18th of August 2018 (Retrospectively registered).
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spelling pubmed-76729092020-11-19 Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study Skovlund, Sebastian Venge Bláfoss, Rúni Sundstrup, Emil Thomassen, Kristina Andersen, Lars L. BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Leg pain, especially of the knees and hips, is common among senior workers and may limit the ability to perform physically demanding work. In light of the aging workforce, this study determined the joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work-limiting pain in senior workers. METHODS: Currently employed senior workers (≥50 years) participated in the SeniorWorkingLife study in 2018 (n = 12,879). Associations between the combination of physical work demands and leg pain intensity (interaction) with work-limiting pain (outcome) were modeled using binary logistic regression analyses while controlling for potential covariates. RESULTS: We found a significant interaction (P < 0.001) between physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work-limiting pain. The combination of higher physical work demands and higher leg pain intensity had the worst outcome in terms of the odds of experiencing work-limiting pain. For example, 70% of those with the combination of high physical work demands and leg pain intensity ≥7 (scale 0–10) experienced that the pain limited them to at least some degree in their work. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of high physical work demands and high leg pain intensity are associated with limited ability to perform work among senior workers. These findings highlight the importance of prioritizing the physical work environment in physically demanding occupations, particularly among senior workers, for prolonging working life. Thus, adjusting the work demands, e.g. through use of assistive devices, and lowering the pain, e.g. through physical rehabilitation, may be necessary to sustain work ability to a high age in this group of workers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This was registered as a cohort study in ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03634410) on the 18th of August 2018 (Retrospectively registered). BioMed Central 2020-11-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7672909/ /pubmed/33208134 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09860-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research Article
Skovlund, Sebastian Venge
Bláfoss, Rúni
Sundstrup, Emil
Thomassen, Kristina
Andersen, Lars L.
Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study
title Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study
title_full Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study
title_fullStr Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study
title_short Joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study
title_sort joint association of physical work demands and leg pain intensity for work limitations due to pain in senior workers: cross-sectional study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7672909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33208134
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09860-6
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