Occupational low back pain: Recovery curves and factors associated with disability

Predictors of chronic disability in injured workers: A systematic literature synthesis

“…In one small prospective cohort study of patients with acute low back pain, older age predicted poorer outcomes at six months [Gatchel et al, 1995a], but not one year [Gatchel et al, 1995b]. Four studies [Lehmann et al, 1993;Reid et al, 1997;Butter®eld et al, 1998;HoggJohnson and Cole, 1998] did not ®nd worse outcomes in older workers. One of these, a small cohort study, found that, among workers who ®led a report of a job-related back injury (60% of whom were not eligible for wage replacement because they missed three or fewer days of work), those aged 50 and over returned to work sooner and lost fewer days of work over a three-month period [Reid et al, 1997].…”

“…Four studies [Lehmann et al, 1993;Reid et al, 1997;Butter®eld et al, 1998;HoggJohnson and Cole, 1998] did not ®nd worse outcomes in older workers. One of these, a small cohort study, found that, among workers who ®led a report of a job-related back injury (60% of whom were not eligible for wage replacement because they missed three or fewer days of work), those aged 50 and over returned to work sooner and lost fewer days of work over a three-month period [Reid et al, 1997]. The results of this study must be interpreted with caution as only a small percentage of workers eligible agreed to participate and only a small number (18) of participants were not working at the three-month follow-up.…”

“…The majority of studies of back injuries failed to ®nd a statistically signi®cant association between outcome and worker sex [Lehmann et al, 1993;Abenhaim et al, 1995;Gatchel et al, 1995a;Infante-Rivard and Lortie, 1996;Oleinick et al, 1996;Reid et al, 1997;Butter®eld et al, 1998]. However, two studies of back injuries [Volinn et al, 1991;Gatchel et al, 1995b] found worse outcomes for women.…”

“…Two studies, both of back injuries, examined whether length of employment and work status less than full-time predicted chronic disability. Shorter duration of employment and occasional (as opposed to full-time) employment were associated with worse outcomes at variable follow-up times in one [Infante-Rivard and Lortie, 1996], but the other study found no association between outcomes at three months and employment duration or part-time vs. full-time work [Reid et al, 1997]. Lortie, 1996;Oleinick et al, 1996] and one of mixed injuries [Cheadle et al, 1994] found that workers in smaller companies had poorer outcomes.…”

Early identification and intervention in the prevention of musculoskeletal pain

“…In fact, musculoskeletal pain problems are a leading cause of health-care visits, sick absenteeism, and early pensions [Frymoyer and Cats-Baril, 1991;Skovron, 1992;Waddell, 1998;Nachemson and Jonsson, 2000]. Although up to 85% of the population will suffer from musculoskeletal pain, less than 10% of the sufferers consume up to 75% of the available resources [Reid et al, 1997;Linton, 1999b;Nachemson and Jonsson, 2000]. Preventing disability and high-cost cases may result in large savings for all parties involved, and thus these people constitute a special target for prevention.…”