Documents Spine 3 results

"STUDY DESIGN:
A 3-year prospective cohort study among workers of 34 companies in the Netherlands.
OBJECTIVES:
To investigate the relation between flexion and rotation of the trunk and lifting at work and the occurrence of low back pain.
SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA:
Previous studies on work-related physical risk factors for low back pain either lacked quantification of the physical load or did not take confounding by individual and psychosocial factors into account.
METHODS:
The study population consisted of 861 workers with no low back pain at baseline and complete data on the occurrence of low back pain during the 3-year follow-up period. Physical load at work was assessed by means of analyses of video-recordings. Information on other risk factors and the occurrence of low back pain was obtained by means of self-administered questionnaires. RESULTS: An increased risk of low back pain was observed for workers who worked with the trunk in a minimum of 60 degrees of flexion for more than 5% of the working time (RR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.1), for workers who worked with the trunk in a minimum of 30 degrees of rotation for more than 10% of the working time (RR 1.3, 95% CI 0.9-1. 9), and for workers who lifted a load of at least 25 kg more than 15 times per working day (RR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-2.3).
CONCLUSIONS:
Flexion and rotation of the trunk and lifting at work are moderate risk factors for low back pain, especially at greater levels of exposure."

"To evaluate the effect of individual characteristics and physical and psychosocial workplace factors on neck/shoulder pain with pressure tenderness in the muscles. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Controversy prevails about the importance of workplace factors versus individual factors in the etiology of pain in the neck and/or shoulders. METHODS: Study participants were 3123 workers from 19 plants. Physical risk factors were evaluated via video observations, and psychosocial risk factors were assessed with the job content questionnaire. Other procedures included symptom survey, clinical examination, and assessment of health-related quality of life (SF-36). The main outcome variable, neck/shoulder pain with pressure tenderness, was defined on the basis of subjective pain score and pressure tenderness in muscles of the neck/shoulder region. CONCLUSIONS: Work-related physical and psychosocial factors, as well as several individual risk factors, are important in the understanding of neck/shoulder pain. The findings suggest that neck/shoulder pain has a multifactorial nature. Reduced health-related quality of life is associated with subjective pain and clinical signs from the neck and shoulders. The physical workplace factors were highly intercorrelated, and so the effect of individual physical exposures could only be disentangled to a minor degree."