Abstract
Hospital low back pain (LBP) is a common cause of Occupational Health Department appointments. Physical demanding tasks at hospitals frequently give rise and/or worsen preventable occupational LBP episodes. 153 healthcare workers filled out a questionnaire gathering data on socio-demographic, work-related characteristics, general health, and LBP (LBP episodes in the last 12 months, pain severity, disability, and other occupational factors (DMQ)). Among these healthcare workers, 34% reported physical demanding jobs with a low physical intensity and 27% a moderate/highly physically demanding job. Results showed that, after adjusting for gender, two variables were associated with a decreased odds of having 3–6 LBP episodes per year; “sedentary work” (vs “work with high physical demands”) (OR = 0.18; 95%CI 0.04–0.88), and “work with light or moderate physical demands” (vs “work with high physical demands”) (OR = 0.20; 95%CI 0.06–0.67). These findings suggest that moderate physical demands at work and sedentary work, are associated with a lower frequency of LBP episodes.
F. Heranz—Occupational Doctor.
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We appreciated the collaboration of the Hospitals and their Occupational Health Services, and in particular, of all the workers who participated in this study.
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This work was supported by the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) - project 027ESC/13: “Chronic low back pain and work”.
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Serranheira, F., Sousa-Uva, M., Heranz, F., Kovacs, F., Sacadura-Leite, E., Sousa-Uva, A. (2019). Hospital Physical Demands and Non-specific Low Back Pain. In: Cotrim, T., Serranheira, F., Sousa, P., Hignett, S., Albolino, S., Tartaglia, R. (eds) Health and Social Care Systems of the Future: Demographic Changes, Digital Age and Human Factors. HEPS 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1012. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24067-7_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24067-7_7
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