Brief breaks during surgery may ease surgeons' discomfort
A review found promising symptom changes, but rated the evidence low or very low.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Experimental studies suggest that brief breaks and exercise programs may reduce surgeons' musculoskeletal symptoms. Passive breaks were linked to less pain and strain by the end of an operation, while exercise studies reported improvement from starting levels. However, the review rated the evidence as low or very low, leaving confidence in these benefits limited.
Evidence quality was low or very low across intervention types. Too few studies were available to pool results for interventions other than active microbreaks.
What researchers found
Surgeons' musculoskeletal symptoms
At procedure end, passive microbreaks were associated with significantly lower pain and strain in the spine, neck, arms and knees compared with no intervention; effect sizes were not reported.
Different evidence for different breaks
The pooled analyses covered active microbreaks and found reductions in pain across several body regions. Results for passive breaks and exercise programs were summarized separately because too few studies were available for pooling.
Baseline changes need context
Exercise studies compared later pain with baseline, with and without ergonomic counseling. Those changes answer a different question from the passive-break comparison against no intervention, so the findings should not be treated as interchangeable.
The original publication
Physical activity interventions and musculoskeletal health in surgeons: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Kjærgaard C, Jahn A, Nielsen TK et al.
Occup Environ Med · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41087097
- Record checked
AI-assisted research and writing. This explains one selected publication; it is not a complete review of everything known. Our approach.
One more question, understood.
Keep track of the research you’ve explored.