Baseline characteristics of musculoskeletal pain and local strain, physical fitness, fear avoidance beliefs, work ability and quality of life of the study participants
| Characteristics | Study groups | |||
| Exercise (n=87) | Control (n=83) | All (n=170) | ||
| Intensity of pain during the past month | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | p Value |
| Visual Analogue Scale (0–100 mm), neck pain | 52.9 (24.4) | 51.4 (26.5) | 52.2 (25.4) | 0.701 |
| Visual Analogue Scale (0–100 mm), low back pain | 40.2 (24.1) | 39.0 (23.6) | 39.6 (23.8) | 0.751 |
| Proportion with | % | % | % | |
| pain intensity at least 40 mm for both neck and back | 43.7 | 43.4 | 43.5 | 0.972 |
| pain frequency of daily or almost daily pain in neck | 59.8 | 61.4 | 60.6 | 0.832 |
| pain frequency of daily or almost daily pain in back | 37.9 | 36.1 | 37.1 | 0.812 |
| radiating pain from neck to upper limb | 40.2 | 37.3 | 38.8 | 0.702 |
| radiating pain from back to knee level | 14.9 | 22.9 | 18.8 | 0.192 |
| activity limitations due to neck pain | 14.9 | 7.2 | 11.2 | 0.112 |
| activity limitations due to back pain | 9.2 | 9.6 | 9.4 | 0.922 |
| Local musculoskeletal strain after work days during past month (rating 0–6) | Mean (SD) | Mean(SD) | Mean (SD) | |
| Neck | 4.2 (1.3) | 4.0 (1.5) | 4.1 (1.4) | 0.221 |
| Shoulder | 4.2 (1.3) | 4.1 (1.4) | 4.2 (1.4) | 0.641 |
| Upper back | 3.2 (1.6) | 3.1 (1.7) | 3.2 (1.7) | 0.511 |
| Lower back | 3.3 (1.7) | 3.2 (1.6) | 3.2 (1.6) | 0.681 |
| Hip | 1.4 (1.5) | 1.4 (1.4) | 1.4 (1.5) | 0.741 |
| Knee | 0.7 (1.1) | 1.1 (1.4) | 0.9 (1.3) | 0.101 |
| Physical fitness (W=women, M=men) Static balance (0‒60 s) W(0)* M(1)* | 54.9 (12.8) 51.7(17.9) | 56.3 (9.9) 51.0 (16.8) | 55.5 (11.5) 51.3 (17.19) | 0.571 0.981 |
| % | % | % | ||
| Neck-shoulder mobility W(0)* (% with severe limitation) M(1)* | 40.0 56.3 | 37.3 56.3 | 38.7 56.3 | 0.752 |
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | ||
| Trunk side-bending flexibility (cm) W(2)* M(2)* | 18.3 (13.6) | 19.0 (3.5) | 18.7 (3.5) | 0.251 |
| 18.2 (4.7) | 18.6 (4.4) | 18.4 (4.5) | 0.791 | |
| Modified push-ups (repetitions) W(5)* M(1)* | 6.9 (4.0) | 6.2 (3.5) | 6.6 (3.8) | 0.241 |
| 9.6 (3.0) | 10.4 (4.6) | 10.0 (3.9) | 0.181 | |
| Static wall squat (0–90 s) W(0)* M(1)* | 80 (49) | 92 (50) | 86 (46) | 0.171 |
| 83 (50) | 87 (53) | 85 (51) | 0.761 | |
| 6 min walk test (distance walked, m) W(3)* M(1)* | 635 (60) | 631 (62) | 633 (61) | 0.551 |
| 641 (97) | 655 (67) | 648 (82) | 0.391 | |
| Fear avoidance beliefs, physical activity (sum score 0‒30) | 8.7 (5.4) | 7.7 (4.3) | 8.2 (4.9) | 0.211 |
| Work Ability Index, Short Form (sum score 3–27) | 18.6 (1.5) | 18.8 (1.0) | 18.7 (1.3) | 0.301 |
| Health-related quality of life, RAND-36 | ||||
| Bodily pain (0–100) | 56.6 (17.6) | 60.2 (15.) | 58.3 (16.8) | 0.171 |
| Energy/Vitality (0–100) | 61.3 (18.2) | 57.4 (18.6) | 59.4 (18.5) | 0.171 |
| General health perceptions (0–100) | 66.5 (18.0) | 66.5 (17.9) | 66.5 (17.9) | 1.001 |
| Role functioning, physical (0–100) | 63.2 (38.3) | 71.1 (33.9) | 67.1 (36.3) | 0.161 |
| Emotional well-being (0–100) | 74.3 (14.1) | 73.2 (15.3) | 73.8 (14.7) | 0.601 |
| Role functioning, emotional (0–100) | 80.1 (31.9) | 77.5 (32.6) | 78.8 (32.2) | 0.611 |
| Social functioning (0–100) | 79.7 (19.7) | 81.3 (20.4) | 80.5 (20.0) | 0.611 |
| Physical functioning (0–100) | 85.9 (14.8) | 89.3 (9.8) | 87.6 (12.7) | 0.071 |
*The number of missing cases in each of the fitness tests is presented in parenthesis; there were no missing cases for questionnaire data.
Statistical method: 1indenpendent samples t-test,2χ2 test.