The following factors were found to have consistent , but limited , support as regards their influence on the risk for sick leave due to back and neck disorders : ( a ) heavy physical workload , bent or twisted working position , and low work satisfaction increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( b ) specific back diagnoses and previous sick leave due to back disorders increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( c ) female gender , smoking , exposure to vibration , and deficient social support were not found to significantly increase the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( d ) self-reported pain and functional impairments were associated with a high risk for long-term sick leave ; ( e ) longer employment periods reduced the risk for short-term sick leave ; ( f ) perceived dem and s at work did not influence short-term sick leave ; ( g ) female gender and higher age increases the risk for disability pension
Predicting Return to Work for Lower Back Pain Patients Receiving Worker's Compensation
The results of a prospect i ve study of 134 patients with lower back pain suggest that nonorganic factors are better predictors of return of work than organic findings . Patients who returned to work had fewer job , personal , or family rotated problems . There were no significant differences between patients who returned to work and those who did not when comparing myelograms , computed tomographic scans , or roentgenographs . The only significant difference in physical organic findings was for muscle atrophy . Patients who did not return to work had a statistically higher incidence rate of muscle atrophy . Length of time off from work was significantly related to outcome , but when patients were categorized according to time off the job , different factors predicted failure to return for patients , off work for less than 6 months and patients off for more than 6 months . For patients off for less than 6 months , important predictors were a high Oswestry score , history of leg pain , family relocation , short tenure on the job , verbal magnification of pain , reports of moderate to severe pain an superficial palpation , and positive reaction to a “ sham ” sciatic tension test . None of these was a significant predictor for the group off for more than 6 months . For the group off work for more than 6 month , previous injuries , and stability of family living arrangements were among the significant predictors not significant for the group off less than 6 months . Using 21 factors selected from a larger group of 92 factors , three statistically significant ( P ≤ 0.001 ) predictive measures were developed . These measures predicted return to work for the total sample , and for the two subgroups ( off more than , or less than 6 months ) more accurately than did the total set of 90 factors
The following factors were found to have consistent , but limited , support as regards their influence on the risk for sick leave due to back and neck disorders : ( a ) heavy physical workload , bent or twisted working position , and low work satisfaction increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( b ) specific back diagnoses and previous sick leave due to back disorders increases the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( c ) female gender , smoking , exposure to vibration , and deficient social support were not found to significantly increase the risk for short-term and long-term sick leave ; ( d ) self-reported pain and functional impairments were associated with a high risk for long-term sick leave ; ( e ) longer employment periods reduced the risk for short-term sick leave ; ( f ) perceived dem and s at work did not influence short-term sick leave ; ( g ) female gender and higher age increases the risk for disability pension