Clinical trial NCT05316844: Investigation of Predictors of Typing Performance in Office Employees With Neck Pain
Official title: The Predictors of Typing Performance in Office Employees With Neck Pain; Neck Disability, Muscle Activity, Posture, and Demographics
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Task Performance and Analysis
Keywords: Neck Pain
Office Employees
Task- Specific Performance
Surface Electromyography
Trapezius Muscle
Forward Head Posture
Posture
Lead sponsor: Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-04-07
Enrollment: 21
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 22
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: CASE_ONLY
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Office workers with neck pain, the sample of the study, were selected from among the people living in Istanbul with the invitation to volunteer.

Brief summary: Determining the predictors that are effective on work performance and preventive approaches to be developed for these predictors must be individual and adaptable to every environment, time, and equipment. In this context, the purpose of the present study was to show the relations between neck disability, Upper Trapezius (UT) muscle activation, posture, and demographic characteristics with typing task performance in office employees who have neck pain by using their equipment in their workplaces.

Detailed description: The present study was conducted to show the relations between neck disability, UT muscle activation, posture, and demographic characteristics with typing task performance in office employees who have neck pain by using their equipment in their workplaces. We hypothesized that UT muscle activation, working posture, and age might be the main predictors of typing performance in office employees with neck pain. For this purpose, full-time office employees who use computers for at least 3 hours a day and have neck pain were invited to the study. Volunteers without any health concern, upper-body injury, and surgery provided informed, written consent to participate in the study.

The participants were given a 10-minute typing task in their working environments, during which right and left UT muscle activation was recorded with Surface Electromyography (sEMG). Work posture was evaluated with Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Forward Head Posture (FHP) was evaluated with Cervical Range of Motion (CROM) Device. Hierarchical Regression Analysis was conducted to examine the predictors of typing performance.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Full-time and regular employees in the last 1 year,
* Office employees use computers at desk for at least 3 hours per day
* According to RULA, working in a posture that is above the acceptable level,
* No trauma history
* Non-specific neck pain but no chronic conditions of the cervical spine and upper extremity

Exclusion Criteria:

* Volunteer office employees with neck pain who did not meet the inclusion criteria and those who could not complete the study because of pain, discomfort, etc. were excluded from the study (Dropouts; n=3 because of pain and discomfort, n=1 because of incomplete evaluations not completed on their own will)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Neck Disability Index (NDI)
timeFrame: 10 minutes
measure: Maximal Voluntary Isometric Contraction (MVIC)
timeFrame: 10 minutes
measure: Muscle Activation of Upper Trapezius
timeFrame: 30 minutes
measure: Forward Head Posture
timeFrame: 10 minutes
measure: Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA)
timeFrame: 10 minutes
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Body Mass Index (BMI)
timeFrame: 1 minutes
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Afyonkarahisar
country: Turkey
facility: Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University
Study officials:
affiliation: Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University
name: Arzu Keskin Aktan, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Marmara University
name: Nilufer Keskin Dilbay, MSc
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Hacettepe University
name: Zafer Erden, PhD, Prof
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References: