Back pain in the workplace. What you lift or how you lift matters far less than whether you lift or when
Two articles on PainSci cite Hadler 1997: 1. The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain 2. Don’t Worry About Lifting Technique
PainSci commentary on Hadler 1997: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.
In spite of more than 50 years of concerted effort to diminish task demand, the incidence of compensable back injuries has not wavered. Before we persist for another 50 years in the quest for the "right way to lift," we should consider recent multivariate clinical investigations that suggest alternative approaches. Because task context is at least as important as task content in this regard, it follows that including regional backache under the rubric of "compensable injury" demands reconsideration. Likewise, rather than pursuing the "right way to lift," the more reasonable and humane quest might be for workplaces that are comfortable when we are well and accommodating when we are ill.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
In spite of more than 50 years of concerted effort to diminish task demand, the incidence of compensable back injuries has not wavered. Before we persist for another 50 years in the quest for the "right way to lift," we should consider recent multivariate clinical investigations that suggest alternative approaches. Because task context is at least as important as task content in this regard, it follows that including regional backache under the rubric of "compensable injury" demands reconsideration. Likewise, rather than pursuing the "right way to lift," the more reasonable and humane quest might be for workplaces that are comfortable when we are well and accommodating when we are ill.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Exercise and education versus saline injections for knee osteoarthritis: a randomised controlled equivalence trial. Bandak 2022 Ann Rheum Dis.
- Association of Lumbar MRI Findings with Current and Future Back Pain in a Population-based Cohort Study. Kasch 2022 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- A double-blinded randomised controlled study of the value of sequential intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component. Yousef 2013 Anaesthesia.
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.
- Sudden amnesia resulting in pain relief: the relationship between memory and pain. Choi 2007 Pain.