Analysis of the effects of workplace physical activity in companies—a literature review

Quality of work life is understood to be directly linked to the level of satisfaction of an individual with the execution of his or her tasks. Workplace physical activity is an important activity that aims to relax the muscle groups most used in occupational tasks, to increase workers’ enthusiasm, and to reduce sickness absenteeism, thus contributing to improvements in quality of life. This study aimed to analyze the effects of the implantation of workplace physical activity protocols at companies. We performed a literature review in the LILACS, SciELO, and Google Scholar databases using the following keywords: “quality of life,” “exercise therapy,” and “occupational health.” With this search, we obtained 73 studies, of which 24 were selected afer reading the titles and abstracts. Afer full reading of the studies and applying eligibility criteria, 16 articles were excluded and the remaining eight were used in this review. By analyzing these eight studies, we were able to verify the benefits of workplace physical activity in improving quality of life, reducing pain intensity and frequency, and preventing occupational diseases. Workplace physical activity programs, when performed at least three times a week, provide various benefits to workers’ health and wellbeing, especially in the reduction of aches and pains and musculoskeletal discomfort, which directly influences improvements in quality of life.