

Best-evidence synthesis identified inconsistent findings on cross-sectional association and a probable negative prospective association of device-measured workplace sitting with LBP-intensity in tradespeople. For occupational SB, cross-sectional studies meta-analysed indicated associations of self-reported workplace sitting with LBP and neck/shoulder pain, but not with extremities pain. Also, there was insufficient evidence on both cross-sectional and prospective associations between leisure-time SB and MSP conditions. Evidence of prospective associations of full-day SB with MSP conditions was insufficient. Narrative synthesis found full-day SB associations with knee pain, arthritis, and general MSP, but the evidence was insufficient on associations with neck/shoulder pain, hip pain, and upper extremities pain. For cross-sectional studies of non-occupational SB, meta-analysis showed full-day SB to be associated with low back pain. Of 178 potentially-eligible studies, 79 were included 56 studies were of high quality, with scores > 0.75. For meta-analyses, random effect inverse-variance pooled effect size was estimated otherwise, best-evidence synthesis was used for narrative review. Studies’ risk of bias was assessed using the QualSyst checklist. Clinical-condition studies were excluded. Guided by a PRISMA protocol, eight databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, SPORTDiscus, and AMED) and three grey literature sources (Google Scholar, WorldChat, and Trove) were searched (January 1, 2000, to March 17, 2021) for original quantitative studies of adults ≥ 18 years.

We synthesised evidence on occupational and non-occupational SB and MSP conditions. Sedentary behaviour (SB time spent sitting) is associated with musculoskeletal pain (MSP) conditions however, no prior systematic review has examined these associations according to SB domains.
