A workplace-based exercise intervention to prevent and reduce the economic and personal burden of non-specific neck pain in office personnel

Intervention: Employees will receive an individualised best practice ergonomic assessment based on a comprehensive assessment conducted by a registered health professional. In addition, they will receive a progressive exercise program to condition the muscles of the neck/shoulder girdle supervised by a registered health professional. These exercises will be performed in the workplace for 20 minutes, three times per week for 12 weeks. A standard sequence of exercise will be prescribed to all employees but their implementation and progression will be within the specific capabilities of the individual. Employees will perform shoulder girdle exercises using dumbbells (single arm rows, bilateral shoulder shrugs, upright rows, reverse flyes, bilateral arm lateral arm raise to 90-degrees shoulder abduction) progressing from unresisted to resisted exercise utilising variable resistance bands. Training load for each individual will be based on their one-repetition maximum (1-RM) that will be regularly re-evaluated to ensure exercise is progressed accordingly. Each training session will commence with a warm up of ten repetitions at a load of 50% of 1-RM for each exercise. This will be followed by 2 to 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions of each exercise at 60-80% of their 1-RM. Progression of the exercises will be within the guidelines suggested for the principle of periodisation and progressive overload. Neck exercises (cervical flexion and extension exercises) that incorporate the coordinated function of the deep and superficial muscle layers will be included and progressed from unresisted to resisted exercise utilising variable resistance bands. Twelve weeks of this training schedule has been shown to be a sufficient intervention period to achieve significant adaptations.