Effect of 8-Week Resistance Exercises on Reducing the Prevalence of Symptomsof Musculoskeletal Disorders

Low mobility and muscle weakness are increasing musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in many individuals. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of 8-week resistance exercises on reducing the prevalence of the symptoms of MSD in the neck, shoulders, wrists, and back among the teachers of Bardaskan, Iran.

Firstly, a total of 384 subjects were randomly selected from the school teachers of Bardaskan, and demographic and Nordic questionnaires were completed for all of them. Then, the prevalence of the aforementioned symptoms in each of the studied organs was evaluated. Accordingly, 80 eligible individuals were identified for this study according to the inclusion criteria and allocated to two intervention (n=40) and control (n=40) groups. In addition, forms of A (i.e., intervention) and B (i.e., control) were used for the random assignment of the groups. The Nordic questionnaire was completed for both groups 24 h before the intervention. After the termination of the 2-month intervention period and 24 h after the last exercise session, the Nordic questionnaire was again completed for both groups. For the result comparison, the GEE statistycal test was used.  

The results of the examined hypotheses showed that that resistance exercises had no significant effects on reducing the prevalence of the symptoms of MSD in the neck, shoulders, wrists, hands, buttocks, and back of school teachers, compared to that reported for the last year and 2 months (P>0.05); however, these exercises significantly decreased the severity of the pain in the intervention group over the last 7 days (P<0.05).

Due to the low impact of resistance training, it is recommended to carry out further studies on redesigning the exercise plan, changing the type and the duration of exercises, or increasing the sample size in order to relieve the pain in the studied regions.