Employer guide to back pain
Introduction
Nearly all adults experience back pain during their working lives. This common problem has become one of the leading causes of work loss in industrialised countries. It is clearly an expensive problem for our society, resulting in lost productivity and individual suffering.
The effective management of back pain has undergone one of the most radical changes witnessed in the history of modern health care. Traditional concepts emphasizing bed rest and passive treatment have been demonstrated as ineffective by high quality scientific research. Instead it has been shown that keeping a person as active as possible in their normal life is the most effective method of managing the problem. The role of the workplace in facilitating rapid rehabilitation has therefore become a principle focus.
It is now inappropriate to think of work merely as a place to return to once a person is fully recovered. We know that the workplace is is integral to the rehabilitation process. Employers (through managers and supervisors) have a critical role in providing the opportunity for a person with backpain to maintain their work habits and daily routine through the temporary provision of a safe and accommodating workplace.
At the 2003 combined conference of the Australia and New Zealand Pain Societies, the work of the New Zealand Accident Rehabilitation, Compensation and Insurance Corporation and the National Health Committee in the management of Acute Low Back Pain was recognised. These bodies have developed guidelines for the management of Acute Low Back Pain. There are two guides for the treatment provider: The New Zealand Acute Low Back Pain Guide and the Guide to Assessing Psychosocial Yellow Flags in Acute Low Back Pain. There is also an Active and Working package that provides consolidated information for both the employer and employee.
Acute Low Back Pain Screening Questionnaire (LINTON & HALLDE´N, 1996)
This questionaire reliably identifies patients not requiring modification of treatment and those who more than likely will have time off work
Interpretation of Scores – Acute Pain Screening Questionnaire
Questionnaire scores greater than 105 indicate that the patient is at risk.
This score produces:
• 75% correct identification of those not needing modification to ongoing management
• 86% correct identification of those who will have between 1 and 30 days off work
• 83% correct identification of those who will have more than 30 days off work.