Advice, devices ineffective in preventing worker back pain

July 19, 2007

Back pain is the number one cause of worker-compensation complaints, second only to the common cold in causing lost workdays. Consequently, employers and regulators have pushed training programs to teach specific lifting methods, and some recommend or require the use of assistive devices such as hoists for hospital workers. However, a new review of the research on lifting advice and handling devices has found that they do not prevent work-related back pain.

“According to the studies we have so far, it seems that this is not effective,” said lead author Kari-Pekka Martimo, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki. He and his colleagues examined data from more than 18,000 employees in 11 studies. Some studies looked at advice or assistive devices alone and some looked at combining both, but the combinations did not prove effective either.

The review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

The advice and devices did not prevent back pain or reduce disability claims or sick leave.

According to Martimo, one explanation for the negative findings could be that “safer” lifting techniques do not really exist — so teaching particular tactics would be unlikely to help. “Another possibility is that elevated risk for back pain might not be related to lifting or moving heavy objects themselves, but to other aspects of work,” he said. High stress, for example, might link jobs that require lifting to back pain, rather than the lifting itself.

Alternatively, it could be that the teaching is the problem — and that workers do not actually adopt better habits. However, the studies looked at many different training methods and did not find any to have a particular advantage. “I don’t think it’s lack of adequate teaching methods,” Martimo said. One complication of considering that there is a “correct” lifting technique that employees should adopt is that “when an employee has back pain, there’s a tendency to blame the victim because he didn’t [use the techniques or devices] correctly.”

“This study confirms that much of what is happening at the workplace is well-intentioned but probably pointless,” said Christopher Maher, associate professor of physiotherapy at the University of Sydney in Australia. “We had a pretty good idea that this was the case but this study really does confirm that we need to take a fresh look at the problem,” said Maher, who was not involved with the study.

“The frustrating thing is that government bodies and employers concentrate on things that do not work, [such as] back belts, education, lifting devices, workplace redesign and no-lift policies, and ignore the only known effective intervention — exercise,” Maher added. “We also know that exercise has health benefits beyond prevention of back pain, so you are getting two health benefits (or more) for the price of one.”

Martino concluded, “We need more studies and evidence on the chain of events between certain jobs and an elevated risk of back pain. We do not know enough about that chain yet.”

Source: Center for the Advancement of Health


Rank 5 /5 (1 vote)
Tags

Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Study finds that anti-diabetic medication can prevent the long-term effects of maternal obesity

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created 23 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (53) | comments 21 | with audio podcast

Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly

(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 11 | with audio podcast report

Teen school drop-outs three times as likely to be on benefits in later life

Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 12

To perform with less effort, practice beyond perfection

Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (15) | comments 6 | with audio podcast


Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation

Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.

Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...

Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic

He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.

GPS court ruling leaves US phone tracking unclear

A US Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect leaves unresolved the bigger issue of police tracking using mobile phones, legal experts say.

Europeans protest controversial Internet pact

Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.