Effectiveness of a return-to-work Intervention for Subacute low-back Pain

The effectiveness of return-to-work intervention for subacute low-back pain on work absenteeism, pain severity, and functional status was examined by means of a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Publications in English that met the selection criteria were identified in a computer-ai...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment ＆ Health Environment ＆ Health, 2005-08, Vol.31 (4), p.249-257
Main Authors: Hlobil, Hynek, Staal, J Bart, Spoelstra, Maaike, Ariëns, Geertje AM, Smid, Tjabe, van Mechelen, Willem
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Back pain
Behavior Therapy - methods
Biological and medical sciences
Control groups
Diseases of the osteoarticular system
Diseases of the spine
Ergonomics
Experimentation
Health care outcome assessment
Humans
Low back pain
Low Back Pain - psychology
Low Back Pain - rehabilitation
Medical sciences
Pain
Patient Education as Topic
Psychoeducational intervention
Randomized controlled trials
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Rehabilitation, Vocational - methods
Rehabilitation, Vocational - psychology
Review
Severity of Illness Index
Sick Leave
Workplace absenteeism
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The effectiveness of return-to-work intervention for subacute low-back pain on work absenteeism, pain severity, and functional status was examined by means of a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Publications in English that met the selection criteria were identified in a computer-aided search and assessed for methodological quality. A best-evidence synthesis was performed instead of statistical data pooling, because of the heterogeneity of the interventions and study populations. Five of nine studies comparing return-to-work intervention with usual care were identified as methodologically high-quality studies. Strong evidence was found for the effectiveness of return to work intervention on the return-to-work rate after 6 months and for the effectiveness of return-to-work intervention on the reduction of days of absence from work after > 12 months. It can be concluded that return-to-work interventions are equal or more effective regarding absence from work due to subacute low-back pain than usual care is.
ISSN:0355-3140
1795-990X
DOI:10.5271/sjweh.880