Peer-reviewed research
Effectiveness of small daily amounts of progressive resistance training for frequent neck/shoulder pain: randomised controlled trial
Lars L Andersen et al., Pain, 2011 · DOI 10.1016/j.pain.2010.11.016
Read the originalRead on October 17, 2026
- What it is
- A randomised trial of 198 working adults with frequent neck or shoulder pain, who were assigned to elastic-tubing resistance training for 2 or 12 minutes a day, five days a week, or to a control group, for 10 weeks. It measured pain, muscle tenderness and strength.
- How much weight it carries
- Peer-reviewed randomised controlled trial with a control group. The primary outcome was neck and shoulder pain, not hand, wrist or thumb pain, and the people studied were not all keyboard users. Pain was rated on a 0 to 10 scale, and the primary outcomes were measured at 10 weeks.
Facts taken from this source
- In the same trial, the group doing 12 minutes of elastic-tubing resistance training a day, five days a week, reduced neck and shoulder pain by 1.9 points more than the control group over 10 weeks.
“1.9 points (95% confidence interval -2.5 to -1.2, p < 0.0001) and 4.4 points (95% confidence interval -5.9 to -2.9, p < 0.0001) in the 12-minute group” (Abstract, Results)
- In a randomised trial of working adults with frequent neck or shoulder pain, doing 2 minutes of elastic-tubing resistance training a day, five days a week, reduced neck and shoulder pain by 1.4 points more than the control group over 10 weeks.
“Compared with the control group, neck/shoulder pain and tenderness, respectively, decreased 1.4 points (95% confidence interval -2.0 to -0.7, p < 0.0001)” (Abstract, Results)