Loading...
One Year of COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Effect of Sedentary Behavior on Physical Activity Levels and Musculoskeletal Pain among University Students
Roggio, Federico Trovato, Bruno Ravalli, Silvia Di Rosa, Michelino Maugeri, Grazia Bianco, Antonino Palma, Antonio
Roggio, Federico
Trovato, Bruno
Ravalli, Silvia
Di Rosa, Michelino
Maugeri, Grazia
Bianco, Antonino
Palma, Antonio
Citations
Altmetric:
Genre
Journal article
Date
2021-08-17
Advisor
Committee member
Group
Department
Biology
Permanent link to this record
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168680
Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak forced Italian students to reduce their daily activities, inducing a seden-tary attitude that was worsened by distanced learning. This study aimed to survey the physical activity levels that were maintained before and during the social restrictions following the pan-demic, their correlation to musculoskeletal pain, as well as analyzing the impact of these COVID-19 restrictions on pain and fatigue that affects daily life activities. A total of 2044 students completed the online questionnaire, of which the results of 1654 participants were eligible. Before the pandemic, the levels of physical activity were distributed as: 19.9% no activity, 30.1% light ac-tivity, 21.5% moderate activity, and 28.5% high activity. After one year of the pandemic, 30.6% of the participants were inactive, 48.1%, 10.9%, and 10.5% stated as maintaining, respectively, light, moderate and high levels of physical activity. Furthermore, 43.5% reported neck pain and 33.5% stated to experience low back pain. Physical activity levels lower than 150 min/week may have predisposed students to suffer from neck pain (1.95 OR at 95% CI, 1.44–2.64) and low back pain (1.79 OR at 95% CI, 1.29–2.49). A positive correlation between physical activity levels, Verbal Descriptive Scale (VDS), and pain frequency have been observed for neck and low back pain (p-value < 0.05). Finally, low physical activity levels were associated with musculoskeletal pain onset and pain worsening.
Description
Citation
Roggio, F.; Trovato, B.; Ravalli, S.; Di Rosa, M.; Maugeri, G.; Bianco, A.; Palma, A.; Musumeci, G. One Year of COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Effect of Sedentary Behavior on Physical Activity Levels and Musculoskeletal Pain among University Students. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 8680. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168680
Citation to related work
MDPI
Has part
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 18, No. 16
ADA compliance
For Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation, including help with reading this content, please contact scholarshare@temple.edu