Interventions to manage back pain in agriculture, horticulture, and seafood workers – A scoping review

BackgroundBack pain is extremely common in agriculture, horticulture, and seafood workers. There is a gap in studies for horticulture and seafood sectors and a scoping review with a wide lens could help inform research within, and across sectors.ObjectiveThis scoping review aimed to establish available evidence for intervention strategies in agricultural, horticulture, and seafood workers to minimize, prevent, or address back pain.MethodsA scoping review was conducted using 15 bibliographic databases encompassing health, business, and agricultural interventions without study type or publication date limits. Articles were screened and extracted by two independent reviewers, with a third resolving discrepancies. Data was synthesized and studies categorized to help inform future research.ResultsData were extracted from 74 studies; agriculture interventions were most common (82%), with few agriculture and horticulture (4%), horticulture (5%), and seafood studies (7%). Interventions were mostly ergonomic (72%; engineering 65%, administrative 3%, engineering and administrative 3%), with fewer self-management (16%; education, exercise, education and exercise 5% each), or both ergonomic and self-management (12%) studies.ConclusionsThere is a major gap in studies in horticulture and seafood sectors, and future research could build from existing evidence in agriculture and across sectors. There is a need for field studies for participants who have pain across all sectors, and rigorous research designs including larger sample sizes and longer follow-up. Future studies focusing on administrative controls, exercise, education, and multimodal approaches are needed, especially if the results translate to multiple sectors.RegistrationThe scoping review protocol was registered through the Open Science Framework on March 26, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/FB3ST.