Mehrdad Hassani has a simple question for anyone who has ever blamed their aching neck on a bad chair or a hunched screen: What if the real culprit is hiding in plain sight — in how little you slept last night?
Hassani, a PhD researcher at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, recently led a study that upends the usual advice about office pain. Most wellness programs tell workers to fix their posture, adjust their monitor height, or invest in ergonomic chairs. But Hassani and his team found something different when they used artificial intelligence to analyze 810 office workers: sleep, stress, and workload often matter more than how you sit.
"Poor sleep may impair tissue recovery and increase pain sensitivity," Hassani explained. That is a fancy way of saying: when you are exhausted, your body is slower to heal the small strains that desk work puts on your muscles and joints.
The researchers used six different machine learning models to study risk factors across nine body regions — neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, hips, wrists, knees, and a few others. They found that the same solution does not work for every ache. Sleeping hours showed up as a major predictor of problems in the lower back, hips, and neck. But a worker's height mattered more for wrist, upper back, and knee pain. High workloads and low job control were strongly linked to neck and lower back problems, while social support from colleagues showed moderate importance for upper back and shoulder discomfort.
"Different body regions are influenced by distinct sets of risk factors," Hassani said. "We need to design targeted interventions rather than one-size-fits-all solutions."
In other words, telling everyone to stand up more often might help some people, but not if the real issue is that they are barely sleeping or drowning in deadlines.
The study also highlighted factors that most ergonomic checklists ignore entirely. How much control a worker has over their tasks, whether their role is clearly defined, and how supported they feel by their supervisor all showed measurable links to pain in specific body parts. Emotional demands and the meaning a person finds in their work also played a role, especially for upper back and shoulder issues.
This matters because work-related muscle and joint injuries are one of the biggest health problems facing office workers worldwide. They lead to missed days, reduced productivity, and chronic discomfort. If employers can use AI tools to identify which workers are at risk — and for which body parts — they could intervene with solutions that actually fit.
Hassani hopes this research opens the door to smarter, more personal approaches to workplace health. "The study showed the feasibility of similar approaches," he said, "and provided a more nuanced understanding of risk than most traditional assessment methods."
For now, the message is simple: if your neck hurts, it might be worth looking beyond your desk setup — and asking whether you are getting enough rest.