Rehabilitation of the Patient with Chronic Back Pain

Do worker's compensation patients with neck pain have lower SF-36 scores?

“…Age is a significant risk factor for recovery from spinal problems. One study found patients over the age of 50 returned to work with much less frequency after rehabilitation for chronic back pain [5]. Older age was also associated with increased time receiving benefits in patients with low-back pain [13].…”

“…Worker's compensation and litigation negatively affect the post-rehabilitation prognosis for chronic back pain [5]. It has been reported that active worker's compensation and litigation issues are associated with poor operative management results for chronic back pain in adults with low-grade spondylolisthesis [19].…”

Vocational outcome of intervention for low-back pain

“…We assessed the internal validity of each study using the following criteria (see the appendix) (24,26): (i) adequate randomization of allocation, (ii) blinding of study participants for treatment, (iii) comparability, or adjustment for incomparability, of the base-line characteristics3 supposedly of relevance to prognosis (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33), (iv) loss to follow-up of less than 20%, and (v) intention-to-treat analysis.…”

The Work Hardening Program and Subsequent Return to Work of a Client With Low Back Pain

“…In addition, as the time of the episode elapses, the psychosocial profile may also change, resulting in a lessening of coping skills and the development of pain-focused behavior. The %ark-er psyche" begins to weaken and the employee starts to identify with the role of the patient (3,7,8,(14)(15)(16)43).…”

“…This goal-oriented approach facilitates the injured worker's return to work by helping to manage or reduce episodes of pain, depression, and disability, which often develop in those people with chronic jobrelated injuries (7,8,10,(14)(15)(16)19). The focus of the work hardening program is to return the injured worker back to work in a relatively short time (ordinarily 4-8 weeks).…”