BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal symptoms are the leading factor responsible for sickness absence. Factors associated with the development of musculoskeletal symptoms must be identified and addressed. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the 7-day prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms by body regions, and to assess the contribution of individual, lifestyle and occupational risk factors on the development of musculoskeletal disorders. METHODS: The sample comprised 202 white- and blue-collar workers. Musculoskeletal symptoms were assessed with the Nordic Questionnaire. Physical activity level and sitting time were assessed with IPAQ. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess the associations between individual, lifestyle and occupational category factors and musculoskeletal symptoms. RESULTS: The 7-day prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 41.6% (n = 84). The highest prevalence of symptoms was reported in the lower back region (18.8%), followed by the wrist/hand (17.3%), the neck (15.8%), shoulder (15.3%) and ankle/feet (11.4%) regions. A significant association was found between reporting musculoskeletal symptoms and work category. In addition, musculoskeletal symptoms were reported more often by the older workers. Work category was a significant predictor of pain in the lower back and shoulder regions, and gender was a significant predictor for neck pain. CONCLUSIONS: Our results emphasize the need of worksite interventions to prevent musculoskeletal symptoms in this population.

This study aimed to systematically review and summarise the evidence about the effect of muscle fatigue on the knee proprioception of trained and non-trained individuals. A search in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and EBSCO databases and Google Scholar was conducted using the expression: "fatigue" AND ("proprioception" OR "position sense" OR "repositioning" OR "kinesthesia" OR "detection of passive motion" OR "force sense" OR "sense of resistance") AND "knee". Forty-two studies were included. Regarding joint-position sense, higher repositioning errors were reported after local and general protocols. Kinesthesia seems to be more affected when fatigue is induced locally, and force sense when assessed at higher target forces and after eccentric protocols. Muscle fatigue, both induced locally or generally, has a negative impact on the knee proprioception.

Psychological stress can be viewed as occurring when demands exceed an individual's adaptive capacity. Burnout is an occupational syndrome defined by three dimensions, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and feelings of low personal accomplishment. Factors related to the nature of the physiotherapy practice, in which health care is provided to patients under painful experiences and chronical conditions, to aspects related to emotional fatigue brought by interpersonal exchanges or physical exhaustion due to staff shortage, within an increasingly demanding health care system, expose physiotherapists to a higher risk of burnout and few studies have examined burnout in this specific setting. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of burnout in Portuguese physiotherapists and to explore possible associations between burnout and demographic and work-related variables. Significant but weak association was found between age and emotional exhaustion, and between clinical experience and emotional exhaustion and global burnout score. Weak association was also found between the number of treated patients daily and daily working hours and physical fatigue and global burnout. Workload was associated with significantly higher scores of physical fatigue, cognitive weariness and global burnout. The prevalence of burnout was not high but significant differences were found in the prevalence of physical fatigue between the group with low workload and high workload. Emotional exhaustion was the most relevant predictor of the global burnout score. In conclusion, the results suggest that the prevalence of burnout in Portuguese physiotherapists is not very high, however, workload seems to place these professionals at a higher risk of developing burnout.

Background: The acute effects of muscle fatigue on the knee joint-position sense (KJPS) are not consensual. Although it is known that peripheral fatigue affects the muscle spindle function by increasing its discharge threshold, reports of positive and negative impacts of muscle fatigue on the KJPS of both trained and non-trained individuals can be found in the literature. Aim: To assess the acute effects of muscle fatigue on the KJPS of trained and non-trained individuals. Methodology: This quasi-experimental study consisted in a sample of 60 participants, 29 semi-professional soccer players and 31 non-trained individuals. KJPS of both groups was tested in the dominant and non-dominant limb in a seated position, before and immediately after a repetitive sit-to-stand fatigue task. Target ranges of 20º and 45º of knee flexion were used, describing an active repositioning method, and using an inertial measurement unit system. Absolute and relative angular errors were calculated. Results: After fatigue, a significant increase was seen regarding the absolute (p=0.034) and relative (p=0.017) angular errors only in the non-trained individuals during the 45º repositioning of the dominant limb. Conclusions: Muscle fatigue did not affect knee proprioceptive acuity of the soccer players, but decreased the KJPS of the non-trained individuals. Muscle fatigue seems to mainly affect the muscle mechanoreceptors of the dominant limb. Key-Words: Muscle Fatigue; Knee; Joint Position Sense; Proprioception