Comparison of pain, depression, quality of life, grip strength, and balance according to physical activity levels in office workers.
Umut Apaydın, Emre Şenocak, Kübra Canlı and 6 others
Office workers classified as highly active reported less activity-related pain, higher general quality of life, and stronger grip than inactive workers.
Depression did not differ between groups. This is a one-time comparison, not a treatment trial, so no causal claim is possible.
Key findings
1Activity-related pain was significantly lower in the highly active group than the inactive group (p = 0.015). Resting pain (p = 0.270) and night pain (p = 0.213) showed no significant group differences.
2General quality of life was significantly higher in the highly active group than in both the inactive (p = 0.016) and minimally active (p = 0.020) groups. The physical, mental, and leisure subdomains of the quality-of-life scale did not reach significance.
3Grip strength was significantly greater in the highly active group than the inactive group for the right hand (p = 0.004) and left hand (p = 0.044). Anterior-posterior balance with eyes open was better in the highly active group (p = 0.004). Depression scores did not differ between groups (p = 0.085).
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What it does not show
Cross-sectional design: the study cannot show that activity caused the differences, only that the groups differed at one point in time. Small sample (n = 61) and sex differences were not controlled for in the analysis, which may have influenced grip strength and balance results. Physical activity was self-reported via a questionnaire (IPAQ-SF), not measured with an accelerometer or other objective device. The highly active group had significantly more men (p = 0.009) and more postgraduate education (p = 0.010) than the inactive group, so group differences may reflect these factors rather than activity itself. There is a gap in the activity classification: no group is defined for 1500 to 3000 MET-minutes per week, so participants in that range are unaccounted for. Single site in one Turkish city, limiting generalisability.
Declared interests
Funded by the Office of Scientific Research Projects of Karadeniz Technical University (grant TAY-2023-10459). No industry funding or conflicts of interest declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these group differences as evidence that starting an exercise programme will reduce pain or improve grip strength. The study is a one-time comparison of people who already differ in sex, education, and weight, and it cannot show that activity caused the differences.
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