Demographics, clinical and work-related characteristics of the participants at baseline
| Randomised | Pain cases | Disability cases | ||||
| Control | Training | Control | Training | Control | Training | |
| Number of participants | 255 | 282 | 22 | 32 | 44 | 69 |
| Demographics | ||||||
| Age, year | 43 (9) | 44 (11) | 45 (9) | 45 (11) | 43 (9) | 45 (10) |
| Height, cm | 170 (8) | 168 (7) | 171 (8) | 166 (7) | 170 (6) | 168 (7) |
| Weight, kg | 73 (14) | 70 (14) | 72 (12) | 69 (17) | 71 (14) | 69 (14) |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 25 (5) | 25 (4) | 25 (4) | 25 (5) | 25 (5) | 24 (4) |
| Women (%) | 80% | 90% | 86% | 97% | 93% | 90% |
| Clinical | ||||||
| Forearm pain intensity (0–100 mm VAS) | 10 (16) | 12 (18) | 52 (19) | 52 (17) | 23 (28) | 18 (24) |
| Work disability (0–100) | 15 (21) | 19 (22) | 36 (26) | 26 (24) | 54 (19) | 50 (18) |
| Percentage of participants spending more than half of total work time | ||||||
| Working with the hands twisted or flexed | 27% | 34% | 45% | 44% | 36% | 41% |
| Doing the same finger movements several times a minute | 58% | 65% | 73% | 56% | 75% | 80% |
| Doing the same arm movements several times a minute | 35% | 39% | 50% | 44% | 52% | 54% |
| Working in a static posture | 48% | 51% | 64% | 44% | 73% | 68% |
| Other work-related characteristics | ||||||
| Weekly working hours | 35 (8) | 35 (8) | 36 (8) | 35 (9) | 36 (5) | 34 (9) |
| Years working as technician | 15 (11) | 16 (12) | 18 (11) | 21 (14) | 16 (11) | 18 (13) |
Data are shown for control and training of all randomised participants, pain cases (forearm pain ≥30, scale 0–100 VAS) and disability cases (Disability of the Arm Shoulder and Hand score ≥30, scale 0–100).
VAS, Visual Analogue Scale.