Physical-work ability and chronic musculoskeletal complaints are related to leisure-time physical activity: Cross-sectional study among manual workers aged 50-70 years.

AIMS

To investigate the associations between both high- and low-intensity leisure-time physical activity on physical-work ability and chronic musculoskeletal complaints among manual workers aged 50-70 years.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, 1763 manual workers (mean age 57.1, SD ± 4.7 years) replied to questions about leisure-time physical activity, physical-work ability, chronic musculoskeletal complaints as well as health and lifestyle factors. Ordinal and binomial logistic regression models were constructed to assess the influence of the duration of both low- and high-intensity physical activity on physical-work ability and chronic musculoskeletal complaints, respectively. Models were adjusted for gender, age, smoking, alcohol intake, body mass index, physical-work demand, work experience, chronic disease and, regarding physical-work ability, also for chronic musculoskeletal complaints.

RESULTS

A statistically significant association between greater physical-work ability and high-intensity physical activity was found for workers engaged in 3-4 h/wk and ⩾ 5 h/wk (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.15-2.19 and OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.10-2.22, respectively). For both high- and low-intensity physical activity, a duration of 3-4 h/wk was associated with lower odds of reporting chronic musculoskeletal complaints in the knees (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.42-1.00 and OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.38-0.99, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Engaging in ⩾ 3 h/wk of high-intensity leisure-time physical activity was associated with greater physical-work ability among manual workers aged 50-70 years. Both high- and low-intensity physical activity related to lower odds of having chronic musculoskeletal complaints in the knees.