Physical Activity and Musculoskeletal Pain: Insights from Rural Guatemala

Background and/or Objectives: To find associations between physical activity levels, lifestyle factors, and musculoskeletal pain in rural Guatemalan populations.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study

Setting : Global Health Outreach Clinic in rural Guatemala (near Antigua)

Participants : 24 subjects met inclusion criteria during their patient care visit and participated in a survey. Study was granted institution IRB approval. 4 subjects were excluded from the data analysis due to insufficient survey information for pain and physical activity measurements (n=20).

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: Pain measurements, including severity (scale 0-10), duration, and location, and physical activity measurements, including total days and minutes per week of vigorous activity, moderate activity, walking, and sitting.

Results: Statistically significant findings included a strong negative correlation between duration of pain and moderate physical activity levels (r=-.737, p=.003), a moderate positive correlation between pain severity and BMI (r=.498, p=.049), and a moderate positive correlation between weight and hours sitting per week (r=.690, p=.003). Although insignificant, results demonstrated no correlation between vigorous physical activity levels and pain duration (r=.059, p=.819) or pain severity (r=.086, p=.752). There was also no correlation between total time sitting per week and pain duration (r=-.029, p=.921) or pain severity (r=-.183, p=.531).

Conclusions: Moderate physical activity may serve as a protective role against long-term pain duration. Additionally, higher BMI appears to be associated with greater pain severity. Of note, neither vigorous physical activity nor total sitting time demonstrated a clear relationship with pain duration or pain severity. These findings highlight the potential benefits and role of moderate physical activity and weight management in controlling musculoskeletal pain.