We need to focus more on pain
Many Danes suffer from pain. And it doesn't just hurt. It also limits their work and costs them sick days. Professor Lars Andersen from the National Research Center for the Working Environment believes that we need to focus more on what can strengthen the body and how we can manage pain in the workplace if we are to be able to endure a long working life.
Many people are in pain. Overall, one in three Danish employees has experienced pain in the past three months, and five percent have been limited in their work due to pain. And if you look at employees over the age of 50, one in two have pain at least daily or weekly. Among those who suffer from pain, 20 percent say that the pain limits them in their work. This is according to figures from the National Research Center for the Working Environment, NFA.
And according to Lars Andersen, Professor of Occupational Health and Pain at NFA, we should take it seriously.
- "For the individual, severe pain reduces the quality of life, but it also affects the economy and workplaces in terms of sick leave, so there will be great benefits for everyone if we can reduce pain and become better at managing it," he says.
According to the professor, pain is a protective mechanism that has evolved through evolution to protect us from harm. "It is the brain's way of telling us that there is something we need to do differently. Pain is complex and is caused by genetics and lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol, exercise, obesity and stress. But it can also be caused by work. Especially physically hard work increases the risk of pain limiting your ability to do your job," says Lars Andersen.
A full day in an office chair can also take its toll on the body.
- "You can get tired and sore in the neck and shoulders from sitting in front of a computer screen all day, especially if you are in a stressful period," says the professor, who is also concerned about what we can do to both prevent the pain from occurring and deal with it when it does.
- Pain is part of life and an important protective mechanism. But we need to do what we can to prevent chronic pain, and we need to get better at managing pain in the workplace," says Lars Andersen.
According to the professor, it is about creating a better balance between the demands of work and what we can handle as individuals. In addition to minimizing risk factors such as heavy lifting, twisting and bending in the back and repetitive work, it is also about getting used to thinking about what can strengthen us and equip us for the work tasks, and about adapting the work as we get older if we are to be able to cope with the work until retirement age.
- From around the age of 40, we lose one to two percent of our muscle strength every year. We need to think more about what can strengthen the body and make it stronger, in combination with improving the working environment. So there are several pieces of the puzzle for a healthy and safe working life, says Lars Andersen.
Exercise can significantly reduce pain
One of the areas in which Lars Andersen has done a lot of research is training and pain. He has a master's degree in sports physiology and was, in his own words, trained to believe that pain should be trained away, as is customary for elite athletes, before he turned his attention to workplaces and began researching whether training also works for employees with pain. Together with his team, he has now tested whether training works on pain in a number of different job groups such as abattoir workers, laboratory technicians, social and health workers, office workers, construction workers and nurses.
The studies show that strength training that targets the muscles that hurt significantly reduces pain. Those who did intensive strength training three times a week for 20 minutes reduced pain by 80%. Those who did a single exercise for two minutes a day reduced pain by about a third.
- Of course, not being in so much pain is a great benefit. But it also means that it is easier to do your job, because the pain does not hamper the individual to the same extent in performing the work, and means that you may avoid calling in sick, he says.
Lars Andersen is pleased that, according to the latest figures from NFA, the proportion of Danish employees who have been offered small exercise activities such as training with elastic bands or back exercises through their workplace has increased from 15% in 2012 to 22% in 2018. On the other hand, seven percent fewer are offered exercise activities or weekly exercise, with 31 percent receiving this offer in 2018.
- It is positive that there is an increase in small exercises, as it is easy to implement in the workplace as an active break with colleagues and bosses. But in any case, many people are still not offered exercise, and most of them need it because it can be difficult to find the energy and time to go to the gym after work," he says.
More effective training at work
And the workplace is a good place to exercise, according to Lars Andersen's research. Although the exercises can in principle be done anywhere, a 2018 study of social and health workers and nurses shows that it is more effective to exercise at work. In the study, participants were divided into two groups, one group exercising at home and the other with colleagues at work. The study found that those who pulled rubber bands and lifted dumbbells at work exercised twice as much and suffered significantly less pain than those who exercised at home.
- It's just easier to get it done when a colleague pulls you along, and it becomes a regular routine where you also get to see your colleagues. It's harder after the children have gone to bed and you're tired after a day at work, says Lars Andersen.
Best of all, training should become part of the workplace culture.
- If the workplace just provides rubber bands or a gym and it's up to the individual to use it, most people will only do so when they are in pain. That's when we are most motivated, according to one of our studies. But if you make exercise an integral part of the workplace culture, over time you will be able to get more and more people to participate, even those who are not in pain, says Lars Andersen, whose research also shows that exercise with colleagues strengthens working relationships.
In some places, you can even integrate exercise and movement at work with your job duties.
- We see it, for example, in some kindergartens, where the teachers get exercise during the day through the activities they do with the children. The same can be imagined in a nursing home. Here, staff might exercise with the residents. The elderly can move their arms without strain or a very light elastic band, while the staff can use tighter elastic bands or weights. In this way, a weakened 90-year-old can easily train with a healthy 20-year-old, says Lars Andersen.
In other workplaces, it will be necessary to take time out for training and think about active breaks.
- We have shown across job groups that it is possible to do strength training during the working day together with colleagues. And it will benefit the workplace to prioritize it, because it will create a better balance between the demands of the work and the physical capacity of the employees, says Lars Andersen.
And several workplaces are already doing this. For example, the City of Copenhagen, which has introduced training during working hours for employees in elderly care as an occupational health and safety initiative and a kind of physical skills development. The aim of the initiative is to improve and extend the working life of employees.
Lars Andersen himself sometimes works out with colleagues in his research team in the gym at NFA. For example, they take turns doing pull-ups. This is an exercise for the back and arms, where you use your arms to lift your body up. Occasionally, they also lift some weights.
- We don't do strength training according to a fixed program. Just when we feel like it. We are a group of sports physiologists and physiotherapists, and it is not in my team that we lack motivation to go to the gym. But we have made it a regular routine to have a quick walk and talk after lunch to discuss small and big issues while doing something good for the body and the community, says Lars Andersen.
Social bias in workplace training
Looking at who is offered exercise during working hours, there is a social bias. The SeniorArbejdsLiv study shows that people with higher education and sedentary work are more likely to be offered exercise at work than those with shorter education and manual work. For employees over the age of 50, 17% of those with sedentary jobs are offered exercise at work, compared to 8% of those with physically demanding jobs.
- This is a paradox, because people with physically demanding jobs need even more training because there is a greater imbalance between the body's capacity and the physical demands of the job, especially as you get older and lose some muscle strength, says Lars Andersen.
At the same time, pain has a greater impact on employees with the physically demanding work.
- If you have pain and a physically demanding job, you will find it more difficult to cope than if you have pain and a less physically demanding job. However, it can be said that in general, everyone should exercise to prevent pain.
