Different Level, but a Similar Day Pattern of Physical Activity in Workers and Sick-Listed People With Chronic Nonspecific Musculoskeletal Pain

Abstract Reneman MF, de Vries HJ, van den Hengel EJ, Brouwer S, van der Woude LH. Different level, but a similar day pattern of physical activity in workers and sick-listed people with chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. Objective To investigate whether physical activity (PA) levels and day patterns of sick-listed workers with chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain (CMP) admitted for multidisciplinary rehabilitation are different from those of workers with CMP. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Outpatient rehabilitation center and general community. Participants A convenience sample of sick-listed patients with CMP (n=27) referred for multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation, and a volunteer sample of workers with CMP (n=107; Intervention Participants wore an accelerometer for 5 to 7 consecutive days. Main Outcome Measure PA, expressed as activity counts. All analyses were corrected for confounders. Results PA levels of workers with CMP were higher than those of sick-listed patients ( P =.01). After correction for confounders, work status explained 3.5% of the variance observed in activity counts (F change =5.27, P =.024). In the mornings, group status significantly contributed to the variance in mean activity counts (F change =5.32, P =.02). In afternoons (F change =3.29, P =.07) and evenings (F change =2.41, P =.12), the effect of group status on PA level was nonsignificant. No significant interaction was observed between time and group status (Wilks' λ=.92, F 14,104 =.66, P =.80). Conclusions Workers with CMP have a higher PA level compared with sick-listed patients. The PA day pattern did not differ significantly between the 2 groups.