One Year of COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Effect of Sedentary Behavior on Physical Activity Levels and Musculoskeletal Pain among University Students

Federico Roggio, Bruno Trovato, Silvia Ravalli, Michelino Di Rosa, Grazia Maugeri, Antonino Bianco, Antonio Palma and Giuseppe Musumeci
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Federico Roggio: Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Via Giovanni Pascoli 6, 90144 Palermo, Italy
Bruno Trovato: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Human, Histology and Movement Science Section, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia n°87, 95123 Catania, Italy
Silvia Ravalli: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Human, Histology and Movement Science Section, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia n°87, 95123 Catania, Italy
Michelino Di Rosa: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Human, Histology and Movement Science Section, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia n°87, 95123 Catania, Italy
Grazia Maugeri: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Human, Histology and Movement Science Section, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia n°87, 95123 Catania, Italy
Antonino Bianco: Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Via Giovanni Pascoli 6, 90144 Palermo, Italy
Antonio Palma: Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Via Giovanni Pascoli 6, 90144 Palermo, Italy
Giuseppe Musumeci: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Human, Histology and Movement Science Section, University of Catania, Via S. Sofia n°87, 95123 Catania, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-17

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; physical activity; sedentary behavior; university; musculoskeletal pain; neck pain; low back pain; health prevention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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