The influence of pain and pain-related fear on muscle activation in the neck/shoulder of female office workers with pain during computer work

Neck/shoulder musculoskeletal disorders in computer workers are a significant problem. Fear-avoidance has been correlated to work-related injuries. No study to date has measured the relationship between pain-related fear and muscle activity in the painful neck/shoulder during a computer task. Our research clarifies the relationship between pain-related fear, pain and muscle activity of the neck/shoulder in female office workers with pain and disability during a computer task. Twenty-six subjects volunteered for the study. Muscle activity was measured at the trapezius muscle during three computer tasks: typing, mousing and typing-and-mousing. All participants filled out pain-related fear questionnaires. Initial pain was measured before testing using a visual analog scale and evoked tenderness was measured after the computer tasks at the muscle recording locations. There was higher muscle amplitude and lower muscle rest in tasks involving typing (RMS: F(2,40)=34.99 p<.001; RRT F(2,42)=43.05 p<.001). There was a correlation between disability and muscle amplitude for the left trapezius during typing (rs =.495, p=.019). There was a relationship between fear-avoidance beliefs and evoked tenderness at the trapezius (right: rs=.442, p=.039; left: rs=.471, p=.027) and a significant relationship between catastrophizing and evoked tenderness at the left UT (rs=.568, p=.006). However, there was no relationship between pain and muscle activity. The relationship between fear-avoidance and evoked tenderness suggests that pain-related fear may be a factor in a painful muscle. Office workers with neck/shoulder pain should attempt more mousing activities compared to typing to reduce muscle activity. As well, addressing pain-related fear in treatments may be beneficial to patient outcome