Dose-response of resistance training for neck-and shoulder pain relief: a workplace intervention study

Key points

1. 01Office workers with mild to moderate neck and shoulder pain trained 5 days per week for 8 weeks using four elastic-tube exercises.
2. 02One daily 10-minute session (TG10) and two daily 10-minute sessions (TG20) produced no significant differences from each other on any measure.
3. 03With both groups merged, mean pain fell 25% and worst pain fell 43% over the training period.
4. 04Health-related quality of life improved 10.6% after training.
5. 05Isometric neck and shoulder strength did not change significantly.

How it was conducted

Design

16-week workplace intervention with an 8-week control period followed by an 8-week training period; randomized into two dosing groups, no separate control group

Participants

27 office workers analyzed (20 women, 7 men), mean age 48.7 years, with mild to moderate neck and shoulder pain

Groups

TG10 (one 10-minute session per day, n=14) versus TG20 (two 10-minute sessions per day, n=13), both 5 days per week using four high-intensity elastic-tube exercises (40N and 54N)

Outcomes

Mean and worst pain on a 0-100 mm visual analog scale, health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-5L, 0-100 mm), and isometric strength (shrugs and seated row) tested before and after each period

Analysis

ANOVA and Friedman tests comparing groups and time points

What they found

• No between-group differences in any variable during the control period (p = 0.27 to 0.97) or training period (p = 0.37 to 0.68).
• Merged groups: mean pain reduced 25% (p = 0.05, ES = 0.41) and worst pain reduced 43% (p < 0.01, ES = 0.55) over the training period.
• Health-related quality of life increased 10.6% (p = 0.01, ES = 0.52).
• No significant change in isometric strength (p = 0.29 to 0.85).
• Median worst pain fell from 40.0 mm pre to 20.0 mm post, and median general pain fell from 20.0 mm to 15.0 mm; median HRQL rose from 80.0 to 88.5 (significant mid versus post).

Limitations

• No untreated control group ran in parallel during the training period, so improvements cannot be fully separated from natural change or expectation effects.
• Very small sample of 27 participants, which limits the ability to detect a true difference between the two dosing schedules.
• Dropouts occurred from the TG20 group, and the trial was registered retrospectively.
• Because the two dosing groups were pooled to reach significance, the headline pain results rest on a single combined arm rather than a controlled comparison.

Why it matters

For patients

If you have mild to moderate desk-work neck and shoulder pain, a short daily resistance routine at your workstation may meaningfully ease pain and improve how you feel.

For clinicians

A single brief daily high-intensity neck and shoulder session appears as effective as twice-daily dosing, so a simple one-session prescription is reasonable, while keeping in mind the absence of a parallel control group.

For readers

This is a small uncontrolled dose-response pilot, so treat the size of the benefit as preliminary rather than definitive.