Seventeen office workers with persistent spinal pain said short breaks (3–5 min every 2–3 hours) would help, but workloads and interruptions make them hard to fit in. They want physiotherapist guidance and short digital content. This is a perceptions study, not a test of whether breaks reduce pain.
Workers preferred short, frequent breaks of 3 to 5 minutes every two to three hours and valued the freedom to choose when to take them, while finding the commonly recommended 10–15 minute break every hour unrealistic given their workload.
The main barriers to taking active breaks were heavy workloads, unpredictable interruptions (especially in public-facing roles), and fear that managers would see the breaks as slacking off.
Participants specifically named physiotherapists as the health professional they would want guiding a digital active-break programme, preferring direct visual contact such as a video call over forums or generic content repositories.
Single-blind randomized controlled trial. Sixty-four participants were randomized across two intervention arms and assessed at twelve weeks for the primary outcome…
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