Peter,

 

Thanks for those interesting insights; that 30% "walking wounded" figure for workers with back pain certainly hasn't had a whole lot of press!

 

In the main are these workers who are undergoing rehabilitation or are they sub-clinical?

 

Would you agree that it would be worrying to see the use of back pain reports as the sole criterion for judging the success or failure for a general manual handling program?

 

Regards,

 

David McFarlane

Ergonomist, WorkCover Authority

New South Wales, Australia

 

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From: Ergonomics and Human Factors [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, 21 April 2006 6:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Is it sensible to evaluate manual handling programs by back injury rates?

Hi

 

We recently discussed the use of sudden onset back pain in this context in a paper in Journal of Rheumatology (see below).  The question you pose opens up a lot of issues. For example, given that cross sectional surveys often suggest that 30% or more of workers are in pain and at work, may be a better indicator would be the effect of the intervention on this group of workers. Here at Surrey we are also researching the effect of such  pain on reducing/changing performance at work, so perhaps work place performance might be a better measure.  In fact, the range of indicators is vast, including job turnover rates, job satisfaction, effect on co-workers, team performance, attitudes of managers,  time off sick, insurance costs, lost time injuries, injuries that must be reported as part of a statutory duty,  time spent doing  ‘other tasks’, use of pain coping strategies,  reduction in exposure to risk,   etc etc. I think much depends on who needs to be convinced that the intervention ‘worked’ and why. We find this a very active source of discussion for the mature, professional, students (often with a brief to reduce musculoskeletal injuries) who are undertaking our part time MSc programme (Info at http://www.surreyergonomics.org.uk/)

 

To some extent therefore it may be a question of ‘horses for courses’ and one that needs much thought before launching into a ‘back pain intervention study’.  Those who are really interested might also like to see the results of another study where we intervened re. nurses back problems. See below.

 

Smedley J,  Inskip H, Buckle P, Cooper C,  Coggon D.  2005 Epidemiological Differences Between Back Pain of Sudden and Gradual Onset.  The Journal of Rheumatology,  32, 3, 528-532.

 

Smedley, J., Trevelyan, F., Inskip, H., Buckle, P., Cooper, C. and Coggon,  D. 2003, Impact of ergonomic intervention on back pain among nurses, Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment and Health, 29(2):117-23. 

 

--------------------------------------------

Professor Peter Buckle

Robens Centre for Health Ergonomics

EIHMS, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7TE

Tel: +44(0)1483 689213 Fax: +44(0)1483 689395 

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