Erasmus plus - Stretching and Strengthening at Work interact

Stretching and Strengthening at Work

Most of the studies included have measured the short-term e ff ects of workplace interventions on speci fi c physical activity outcomes

Less focus on the effects of workplace interventions on physical activity using measures such as weekly levels of exercise

Limited focus on interventions for specific groups (e.g. health inequality groups)

Key findings

Evidence on some types of interventions is more developed than others

Multicomponent interventions (e.g. education, advice, counselling) have the best outcomes.

Figure 5 | A summary of the final report on physical activity at the workplace (ECORYS, 2017). In addition, no user-friendly guidelines describing alternative types of on-site exercise interventions has been developed and widely disseminated in working population, and no information is available as to whether such interventions yield an additional benefit for health profiles of inactive employees. Thus, developing and implementing a comprehensible, practical and user-friendly guidelines describing HEPA-endorsed strategies aimed to enhance different types of physical activity and counteract sedentary behaviors at workplace, with all its negative consequences, is of utmost importance to contribute to health promotion for the employees. Low back pain at workplace: a case study Sedentary behavior at workplace accompanied by other poor lifestyle behaviors often goes together with several specific health concerns, including low back pain, neck stiffness, and poor posture ( Figure 6 ). It appears that the prevalence rate of self-reported low back pain among workers in the U.S. was 25.7%, with female or older workers were at increased risk of experiencing low back pain ( Yang and co-workers, 2016). This common health problem often goes together with inadequate muscular fitness, and most workers are expected to experience symptoms of low back pain or similar musculoskeletal problems during their working life.

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