| Title: | The impact of accelerometer-derived 'weekend warrior' physical activity on musculoskeletal disorders and multimorbidity development |
| Journal: | Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness |
| Published: | 4 Feb 2026 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41704645/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesf.2026.200458 |
Publication 18374
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Abstract
Background: Whether concentrating moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) into 1-2 days ("weekend warrior", WW) provides musculoskeletal benefits comparable to more evenly distributed weekly activity ("regular activity", RA) remains unclear.</p>
Methods: In a prospective UK Biobank accelerometer cohort (n = 52,606), participants free of musculoskeletal disease at baseline were classified hierarchically: inactive (<150 min/week MVPA); among those meeting the guideline threshold (≥150 min/week), WW (≥50% of weekly MVPA accrued within the most active 1-2 days) and RA (≥150 min/week but not meeting the WW criterion). Over a median 8.2 years of follow-up, there were 4107 osteoarthritis (OA), 2454 spine degenerative changes (SDCs), and 1006 osteoporosis (OP) events. Cox models estimated incident outcomes; multi-state models estimated transitions among baseline, first musculoskeletal disease, musculoskeletal multimorbidity (MSM), and death.</p>
Results: Compared with inactivity, both RA and WW were associated with lower risks of OA (RA hazard ratio [HR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.83; WW HR 0.83, 0.77-0.89; both p < 0.001), SDCs (RA HR 0.85, 0.76-0.95, p = 0.004; WW HR 0.85, 0.78-0.94, p = 0.001), and OP (RA HR 0.74, 0.62-0.88; WW HR 0.75, 0.65-0.87; both p < 0.001). In multi-state analyses, mortality was lower versus inactivity from baseline for both RA (HR 0.61, 0.55-0.69; p < 0.001) and WW (HR 0.59, 0.54-0.65; p < 0.001), with a stronger reduction after MSM for WW (HR 0.42, 0.25-0.72; p = 0.001) than RA (HR 0.83, 0.48-1.43; p = 0.502).</p>
Conclusion: Meeting MVPA recommendations via WW may provide comparable musculoskeletal risk reduction to RA.</p>
5 Authors
- Yuanpeng Zhu
- Di Liu
- Xiangjie Yin
- Terry Jianguo Zhang
- Nan Wu
1 Application
| Application ID | Title |
|---|---|
| 532823 | Longitudinal Analysis of Musculoskeletal Multimorbidity and Its Interaction with Well-being: Insights from UK Biobank Imaging and Biomarker Data |
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