Work-from-home-related musculoskeletal pain during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid review protocol

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has forced various workforce industries to work from home. The work-from-home set-up has exposed some workers to some office-related work, typically not included in their jobs, consequently exposing them to an increased risk for developing musculoskeletal pain.

We will search PubMed, MEDLINE, and CINAHL for observational studies published between May 2020-June 2021. This review will include published peer-reviewed studies in the English language. We will include studies that recruited adults aged 20-65 from any work industry reporting on outcomes related to musculoskeletal functions (i.e., pain, disorder, condition, etc.). Two independent reviewers will screen the search results. Two independent reviewers will accomplish risk of bias assessment using the JBI-MAStARI critical appraisal tools. Likewise, data extraction will be performed by one reviewer and verified by a second reviewer. Pooled prevalence estimates will be generated using Revman V.5.2.1, where Forest plots will be generated to determine overall estimates of random-effects and confidence intervals. To quantify heterogeneity, we will index the I and X p-value. A narrative synthesis summarised into tables and themes will likewise be used to summarize the extracted data.

A rapid review methodology was chosen to rapidly synthesize the available literature on the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain associated with work-from-home conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is essential in informing health programs and policies that address both the public and private industry sectors.

This is registered in the PROSPERO Registry (CRD42021266097).