This study aimed to identify the main factors that caused, reactivated and/or aggravated musculoskeletal disorders (MED) in fitness professionals' (FP) perception, the effects of MED on FP performance and recovery, characterise MED, compare groups and correlate the nMED/FP with several variables. 466 FP answered the VidaProFit survey online. Descriptive statistics, the T-test, and Pearson's correlation were used. 46.2% of the FP reported MED (mean: 1.11±1.61 nMED/FP). Most reported MED were in “joint/ligaments”, in the “knee”, from “overuse”, “identified by a specialist” and “aggravated” by work. Most FP keep working during MED recovery and consider that this fact prolongs the recovery. Around half of the MED were “recurrent”, “caused” and/or “reactivated” by work. Almost half of the FP resorted to sick leave, considering “insufficient recovery time” as the main factor for MED, and feel pain/discomfort during work. “Females” and “working as FP” were the groups with significantly higher mean of nMED/FP. Age, professional experience, number of group fitness classes/week, body&mind group fitness classes/week, maximal group fitness classes/day, paid and unpaid working hours/week were correlated with nMED/FP. Results support the need to create programs or guidelines targeted to MED prevention to ensure the continuity of FPs in the fitness sector.
Vieira et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: