Acute effects of a warm-up intervention on pain, productivity, physical capacities and perceptions among vineyard workers: a cluster randomized trial

Abstract Purpose Agriculture is one of the sectors that are the most concerned by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Workplace physical activity programs are one of the most promising solutions to prevent adverse consequences of MSDs such as pain or impairment in physical capacities. Despite the growing interest to the implementation of warming-up sessions before the working day, the available evidence of their effectiveness is still scarce. The aims of this study were twofold: (1) to investigate the acute effect of a warm-up session on pain, work performance, and physical and psychosocial capacities among vineyard workers; (2) to determine the warm-up modality the most beneficial to vineyard workers. Methods A cluster randomized study was implemented among French vineyard workers. A 15min single session of warm-up was implemented among four groups corresponding to four different conditions: (1) hybrid warm-up intervention (HWU); (2) dynamic warm-up intervention (DWU); (3) stretching warm-up intervention (SWU); (4) no warm-up intervention (CONTROL). A total of 92 vineyard workers were included in the analysis. Results DWU showed increased performance, increased heart rate, better readiness to work and lower workload than the CONTROL. HWU showed a better readiness to work. SWU showed better work quality. However, the three different warm-up protocols did significantly not differ from the CONTROL group in terms of perceived pain intensity, and physical capacities. Conclusion The present findings confirm some beneficial acute effects on performance, heart rate and perceptions of a single warm-up session performed before pruning. The DWU seems to be the warm-up modality the most beneficial to vineyard workers. Trial registration: NCT05425693. Registered 06/16/2022 in ClinicalTrials.gov