IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v11y2014i4p3859-3869d34790.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

12-Mo Intervention of Physical Exercise Improved Work Ability, Especially in Subjects with Low Baseline Work Ability

Author

Listed:
  • Oili Kettunen

    (Department of Health and Exercise & Paavo Nurmi Center, University of Turku, 20520 Turku, Finland
    Department of Health and Exercise, Sports Institute of Finland, 19120 Vierumäki, Finland)

  • Timo Vuorimaa

    (Haaga-Helia the University of Applied Sciences, 19120 Vierumäki, Finland)

  • Tommi Vasankari

    (UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, 33501 Tampere, Finland
    National Institute for Health and Welfare, 00271 Helsinki, Finland)

Abstract

Objectives : This study’s objective was to assess the effects of a 12-month physical exercise intervention on work ability (WAI) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in healthy working adults. Methods : The study group had 371 participants, of which 338 (212 women and 126 men) were allocated in the exercise group and 33 (17 women and 16 men) in the control group. The exercise group underwent a 12-month exercise program followed by a 12-month follow-up. WAI and CRF were evaluated at baseline, and at 4, 8, 12, and 24 study months, in both exercise and control groups. The exercise group was divided into subgroups according to baseline WAI classifications (poor/moderate, good, excellent). Results : During the 12-month exercise intervention, the exercise group increased their leisure-time physical activity by 71% ( p = 0.016) and improved the mean WAI by 3% and CRF by 7% ( p < 0.0001, in both), while WAI and CRF decreased in the control group (ANCOVA using age, sex and BMI as covariates, for WAI, p = 0.013 and for CRF, p = 0.008). The changes in WAI and CRF between the exercise group and control group were significantly different during the intervention (baseline vs . 12-months, p = 0.028 and p = 0.007) and after the follow-up ( p = 0.001 and p = 0.040), respectively. A light positive correlation between the changes in WAI and in CRF ( r = 0.19, p < 0.01) existed. WAI improvement was the highest (13%, p < 0.0001) in the subgroup having poor/moderate WAI at baseline (ANCOVA, p < 0.001). Conclusions : The improvement of WAI associated with CRF. These results suggest that a physical exercise intervention may improve work ability.

Suggested Citation

  • Oili Kettunen & Timo Vuorimaa & Tommi Vasankari, 2014. "12-Mo Intervention of Physical Exercise Improved Work Ability, Especially in Subjects with Low Baseline Work Ability," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:4:p:3859-3869:d:34790
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/4/3859/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/4/3859/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kenneth Jay & Maria Kristine Friborg & Gisela Sjøgaard & Markus Due Jakobsen & Emil Sundstrup & Mikkel Brandt & Lars Louis Andersen, 2015. "The Consequence of Combined Pain and Stress on Work Ability in Female Laboratory Technicians: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Yasmin Ezzatvar & Joaquín Calatayud & Lars L. Andersen & Adrian Escriche-Escuder & Marta Aguilar & Jose Casaña, 2021. "The Importance of Lifestyle Factors for Work Ability among Physical Therapists: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-9, June.
    3. Jan-Bennet Voltmer & Edgar Voltmer & Jürgen Deller, 2018. "Differences of Four Work-Related Behavior and Experience Patterns in Work Ability and Other Work-Related Perceptions in a Finance Company," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Pauliina Husu & Kari Tokola & Henri Vähä-Ypyä & Harri Sievänen & Tommi Vasankari, 2023. "Accelerometer-Measured Physical Behavior and Cardiorespiratory Fitness as Indicators of Work Ability," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-12, April.
    5. Jacky Y. K. Ng & Alan H. S. Chan, 2018. "The Work Ability of Hong Kong Construction Workers in Relation to Individual and Work-Related Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-24, May.
    6. Joshua Zheng Rui Ting & Xiaoqi Chen & Venerina Johnston, 2019. "Workplace-Based Exercise Intervention Improves Work Ability in Office Workers: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-10, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:11:y:2014:i:4:p:3859-3869:d:34790. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.