Office back pain and how it impacts your company

Eighty percent of Americans experience low back pain at least once in their life, and the majorities resolve this pain in less than two months. Chronic back pain is defined as pain that persists for more than six months and results in the need for long-term treatment. A total of 1% to 2% of low back pain is caused by disc herniation. Postural and muscular low back pain accounts for 80% to 90% of all complaints. Chronic low back pain imposes not only the physical impact of the pain but also the emotional and occupational effects as well. With numbers like this, it is not hard to see that low back pain will impact a work environment in one way or another, thus it is important for employers' to understand the impact that low back pain can have on one's workplace.

In order to understand low back pain, it is important to understand how low back pain occurs. Under normal circumstances, the anterior spinal column with its vertebrae and discs performs the weight-bearing functions of the body. Trauma, dysfunction, or degeneration of the anterior spinal column triggers pain. Which causes increased curvature in the lumbar region. Reflex muscle spasms then occur in an attempt to stop the motion and decrease irritation of the tissues. These spasms shift the spine and move the weight-bearing functions to the more delicate muscles and tissues in the body. The joints are stressed, the alignment is distorted, and more pain and muscle spasms occur thus causing more pain.

The treatment of low back pain emphasizes the management of the pain and the accompanying dysfunction. Three broad categories of treatment exist: medical management, cognitive-behavioral treatments, and spiritual treatments.

Medical Management: Aspirin and other nonsteriodial anti-inflammatory drugs; i.e. Aleve, Advil, ibuprofen, Motrin; help to decrease the inflammation in the body. Muscle relaxants may aid in the reduction of muscle spasms. Trycyclic antidepressants have also been found to aid in the treatment of chronic pain and are prescribed by physicians to aid in pain management and assist in promoting sleep.

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment: Cognitive-behavioral treatments include biofeedback, relaxation, exercise, and diet. These techniques can be used to help decrease anxiety and muscle spasm. Exercise and weight loss are important components in reducing low back pain.Many people benefit from physical therapy where they can be taught appropriate exercises. Daily stretching and muscle toning exercises strengthen muscles and decrease pain. Losing weight, especially in the abdominally region, decreases the strain on the back.

Spiritual Treatment: Spiritual interventions include journaling, meditation therapy, music therapy and inspirational readings. Spiritual interventions provide a way for the one to accept the new limitations imposed by chronic pain.

Since low back pain is so prevalent, this disorder will in some way affect an employees' performance at work. Pain decreases ones ability to concentrate, reason, and work for extended periods of time. All of these are a negative for the workplace. Employers'' should look for ways to decrease current back pain suffers and prevent new back injuries from occurring. Employees that sit for long period of time should have a chair that is ergo dynamically fit. This would decrease the number of back pain related complaints due the physical work environment.

Employers' should also have employee educational opportunities where the employee could learn about low back pain. These opportunities could include information in the form of verbal and written education, which would educate employees about the number of low pain injuries annually, and how to prevent such injuries. They could also include a way in which employees' could offer suggestions to upper management for different ways to improve their company's policy for preventing low back injuries.