Articles tagged under ‘Back’
Articles 1 - 49 of 49
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A new guide to help primary care practitioners treat people with low back pain
There's a new guide for primary care practitioners who work with people with low back pain.
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New clinical care standard for low back pain — a story of hope
The new Low Back Pain Clinical Care Standard aims to make sure patients with this common condition get the best outcomes.
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Telerehabilitation for spine pain in the lockdown era — not the same, but better
Telerehabilitation on pain and disability in patients with spine pain achieved more improvement than 'hands-on' treatment.
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‘Self-management’ of chronic musculoskeletal pain: what patients say helps them do it (or not)
Patients are encouraged to ‘self-manage’ their chronic pain conditions. But there are external and personal factors that will either help or hinder their ability to do this. And healthcare practitioners are one of the main external factors. So how can they help?
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10 common unhelpful beliefs about low back pain, and 10 facts to set us straight
10 common and unhelpful myths about low back pain, and 10 facts that bust them.
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In the hands of the gods? Spinal injuries from a worker’s perspective
A ‘recovering interventional spine physiatrist’ makes the case for spine clinicians paying more attention to what patients know and say about their low back pain.
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3 orthopaedic surgeries that might be doing patients (and their pockets) more harm than good
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Fantastically sensible guidelines for back pain treatment
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Top ten tips for better living with less pain
Practical advice for people who experience persistent pain, based on the work of musculoskeletal therapist Ben Cormack.
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Webinar recording: Prevalence and patterns of health service use in compensated Australian workers with low back pain
In this webinar, Michael Di Donato reports on his recent research into imaging and opioid use in compensated Australian workers with low back pain.
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How to really reassure
Patient / treater rapport, emotional validation and education backed by experiences that demonstrate the truth of what has been learned bring long-term benefits to patients with back pain, according to spine expert Dr Donald Murphy. Can GPs do it?
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Bad reassurance: "You’re fine! Don’t worry!"
Doctors and allied health professionals aiming to avoid over-treatment can actually make things worse for patients with back pain by offering reassurance that fails to reassure, according to spine care specialist Dr Donald Murphy.
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Webinar recording: The Elephant in the room - too much medicine
Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist Professor Peter O'Sullivan from Curtin University, discusses why current approaches do not improve outcomes and examines what needs to change.
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Introducing value-based healthcare
Efficient, evidence-based and directed by what matters to patients: what’s not to like about value-based healthcare? (A lot, if you ask some spinal surgeons…)
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Introducing cognitive functional therapy
By creating a therapeutic "pain story," proponents of cognitive functional therapy claim the approach will break the cycle of pain-related distress and disability for individuals with persistent, non-specific musculoskeletal pain.
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Webinar recording: Understanding musculoskeletal problems - Part 2: Neck and Back Pain
In part two of our three-part series, Dr Wyatt explains common neck and back problems and gives practical tips to help employees manage them at work.
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Spinal fusion: All pain, no gain?
Australians are turning to spinal fusions to control lower back pain despite a lack of evidence. Poor outcomes are particularly likely in the workers' comp system.
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Case Study: How Things Can Go Wrong in Compensation Cases
This case study looks at the additional injuries which can occur as a result of the workplace injury.
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Case Study: Exploring other job options
This case study explores the importance of providing options for the injured worker's return to work.
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Case Study: Back to the Future
Ms P is a 59 year old woman who reported back problems as a result of her long term employment as a manager in a busy office environment. She is being assessed for whether her back problem is still a work related condition.
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How to get the best out of your physiotherapist
Physiotherapy treatment is common for a range of standard conditions, particularly including musculoskeletal injuries.
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Webinar Recording: Spinal pain and work - Professor Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde
Back pain and neck pain are common. What do we know about their natural history, work contribution and the contribution of genetics?
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Case study: everyone has a role to play
Employers and supervisors are key components of the return to work process. Without their support, a return to work program is unlikely to lead to a successful outcome.
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Case study: Flexible approaches can kickstart cases
Despite the best efforts of the return to work manager, some cases seem to make little progress. Looking beyond the physical injury for solutions can help boost a client's chances of returning to work.
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Webinar Recording: Optimising outcomes for workers with back pain through enhanced self-management and collaboration
Listen to musculoskeletal physiotherapist, Dr. Jon Ford, talk about how practitioners can help workers embrace self-management strategies and address obstacles to recovery and return to work.
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The lowdown on lifting
Dr Jos Verbeek talks about a review of research on training employees to lift to prevent back problems.
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For Doctors - Back and neck pain: does age (and work) make a difference?
Professor Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde outlines key findings based on the study of 40,000 Danes.
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Video: Understanding discs
Disc bulge, disc degeneration, disc protrusion. Terms that worry patients, most of the time unnecessarily.
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Moving backwards on backs
The messages of a $6 million public health campaign about back pain are being lost thanks to good intentions and a lack of consistency.
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Back to the past
Back pain flare-ups are a normal part of recovery.
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When doctor-dollars trump sense
Does Australia have anything to learn from an American expose of the influence drug companies exert on medical research?
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Sophie's choices (a case study)
A rehab provider who addresses the human impact of injury restarts stalled RTW for a disempowered young worker.
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Things have gotta change: back pain and why our thinking is all wrong
When it comes to back pain, we don't have the right vocabulary - and we need it. The right words can inform the correct way of thinking.
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Superdoc (9) - Back pain and investigations
An investigation won't tell us what we usually need to know about back pain - so why do we often jump so quickly into it?
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Superdoc (8) - Back pain and the 'fear avoidance model'
Our Superhero Superdoc is back on back pain and the importance of not being afraid of it.
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Superdoc - Fighting fear and back pain
Fear and back pain make a destructive combination - our local superhero talks about why.
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Case Study: Cool, calm and in control
A worker's confidence and approach to self-management can make the difference between a successful return to work and permanent incapacity.
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Webinar: Back Pain and Return to Work
Back pain accounts for a large proportion of injury claims, and a higher proportion of long term disability. Medical issues are important, but how the workplace deals with the employee has a greater impact on outcomes.
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Outside the city, outside the square
In a close-knit rural community, one RTWC's resourceful approach transforms a movement-limiting spinal injury into a business and career opportunity.
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Nice one, Mercedes!
Missing out on early intervention puts an end to this cleaner's night job, but doesn't stop her from retraining for a satisfying new career.
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I'm having communication strain with back pain
Responding to a reader's request for help to help.
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Want to be a back pain superhero?
This comprehensive guide to helping workers with back pain will have you donning lycra in no time...
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Back Pain & RTW
Everything you need to know about back pain and RTW in one hit!
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Case Study: When return to work fails
This case study looks at a young man with a long career ahead of him and the reasons he will probably never return to his job.
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Returning to work after injury
A positive story of a long road back to a better life.
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Rest and activity avoidance is often not the best medicine.
A young, fit worker develops back pain, is advised to rest and cut back activities. Three months later his back pain has not improved. Is rest really the best medicine?
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Deanne's story part three: unintended outcome
How an employer and employee can do the right thing and yet have a bad experience too
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Deanne's story part two: the secretary forced out of work by a common health condition.
In Part Two of this series, RTW Matters interviews Deanne to discover why she feels angry and let down.
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RTW Matters follows the journey of a young secretary forced out of her job by a common health condition.
In this and subsequent articles on Deanne's case, we learn about her WorkCover journey and hear why both she and her employer is so distressed by the process.
Research 1 - 68 of 68
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Don’t take back pain lying down — how rest can make ‘flares’ worse
A study confirms that even small changes in your daily habits, like how long you sleep and how active you are, can make a difference to whether you have a pain flare-up or not.
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The outcomes of lumbar spinal fusion surgery — a tale of 2 studies
Lumbar spinal fusion surgery is an increasing, but controversial procedure for chronic low back pain. Two studies suggest we need to rethink its value for injured workers.
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What do physios think about exercise programs to prevent low back pain?
What do we know about physiotherapists’ understanding of, attitudes to and experiences of delivering low back pain exercise programs?
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Scans rule, don’t they? Patient misbeliefs and misconceptions about spine conditions
Misunderstandings and mistaken beliefs about the diagnosis and management of degenerative conditions in the cervical spine are common and can influence clinical outcomes. This makes effective communication even more important.
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RTW expectations built on trust, workplace support and actions of treatment provider
RTW expectations predict recovery from musculoskeletal injury. Workplace supports, trust and the actions of healthcare providers all shape RTW expectations, according to NZ workers
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Opportunity to increase value in low back pain care
A single pain management skills session is as effective at reducing pain catastrophising for people with chronic low back pain as eight sessions of CBT.
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Workplace interventions to prevent sedentary pain
Are inflating and deflating “smart seats” the cure for back and neck pain amongst sedentary office workers? Or are active breaks a better bet?
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Back pain RTW delayed by poor mental health
Depression and anxiety delay sustained RTW for workers with work-related musculoskeletal disorders. New mental health problems lead to larger delays than pre-existing problems – and men are more vulnerable to delay than women.
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Moving away from LBP
People with chronic, non specific low back pain may benefit from treatment that identifies and alters personal patterns of movement and posture that inadvertently contribute to pain.
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Treatment guidelines reduce LBP risk
Following international treatment guidelines reduces the risk of transition from short to long term lower back pain but in the US, 50% of LBP patients receive at least one form of sub par care.
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Evidence moves on frozen shoulder treatment
After rigorously comparing all the relevant, good quality evidence available in 2020, a team of orthopaedics researchers have recommended IA cortisone as the treatment of choice for patients with frozen shoulder of less than one year.
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Comparing LBP prevention approaches
Fixing the workplace or fixing the person: which is a more effective way to prevent lower back pain?
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Talking about episodic disability at work
Canadian researchers explore organisational perspectives on talking about episodic disability at work.
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The more the spine changes, the more it stays the same?
Neck X-rays show that changes to the cervical spine are common, and become more common and more pronounced with age. Like wrinkles or grey hair, however, normal spinal aging hasn't been tied to pain or disability.
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Predicting – without overtreating – chronic LBP
A screening tool developed in Australia could help workers’ compensation systems and treating practitioners better target early intervention initiatives for workers with lower back pain.
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Are health apps the way forward for chronic MSDs?
A promising new digital care program that monitors exercise and offers personal health coaching and peer support has successfully engaged people with chronic MSD pain, achieving impressive reductions in pain over the course of three months.
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Work demands, work ability and MSDs
Work that places strain on the lower back reduces work ability more than other types of physical demands; and multiple physical demands cause problems too.
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Digging up trouble
Macho workplace cultures and frictional compensation systems yield financial and emotional stress for miners with back injuries.
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How to reduce lost time due to shoulder injuries
Around a quarter of work absence due to shoulder injury could be prevented if organisations better managed the risks of long-term exposure to heavy, physical work.
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Mining the resources that prevent chronic LBP
Good mental health, social support at work and home, and job satisfaction protect against persistent low back pain.
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Angry nurses have more MSDs - and there's a link to social demands / support
Nurses who think they offer their colleagues more support than they get in return are more likely to be angry, and develop an MSD, than those who describe a fair balance.
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Less LBP pain and more function with early RTW
Health practitioners and employers take note: with appropriate support and appropriate duties, workers with LBP have less pain and better function when there’s a quick – even immediate – return to work.
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Worker perspectives on back pain, heavy manual labour and sickness absence
Danish researchers conclude that ergonomics training can cause confusion and stress, while supportive supervisors make it easier for workers to stay at work with a sore back.
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Putting the "social" back in biopsychosocial
What does the international evidence say about the impact of compensation systems, health care systems and significant others on workability for people with lower back pain?
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An intervention for low back pain that works
Evidence-based! Cost-effective! Proactive! Popular! You will love this new workplace intervention for high-risk workers with low back pain.
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Physical activity at work and low back pain
Back problems are commonly attributed to work and many in the community believe that heavy lifting contributes to back problems.
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Research short: How long will chronic low back pain last?
A Dutch study has produced a simple, efficient means for assessing the probable duration of low back pain.
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Research short: Getting disability off your back
New research shows patient anxiety and distress about a lower back complaint significantly reduces the chance of a successful return to work outcome.
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Research short: Spinal manipulative therapy for chronic low back pain
Researchers have found spinal manipulative therapy yields small improvements in chronic low back pain, but have questioned the practice's cost-effectiveness.
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Guided internet-based cognitive behavioural treatment for chronic back pain reduces pain catastrophising
A randomized controlled trial from Sweden offers hope for chronic back pain sufferers.
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Research short: A happy work is a healthy work
Positive workplace environments are necessary for workplace health programs to be successful.
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Research Short: Professional drivers and chronic back pain
A Finnish study raises questions about previous associations between professional car driving and chronic lower back pain.
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Research short: Is there a better physio treatment for chronic lower back pain?
A new study suggests therapeutic climbing may trump a standard exercise regime in treating lower back complaints.
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Research short: Work is good for you, but...
The UK's treating practitioners say that work is beneficial, but how do they actually behave when making recommendations about back problems?
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Research short: Is integrated care value for $?
A European study of an integrated care program for workers with long term back problems shows a return of $26 for every $1 invested.
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Expecting the worst and fearing pain are tell-tale signs of slow RTW
Identify high-risk patients to pip long term back problems at the proverbial post
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Overtreatment HURTS
The US demonstrates how overtreating back pain causes more pain.
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Treating back pain: when surgery does not make the cut
A review of the effectiveness of non-surgical treatments for chronic low back pain.
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The lowdown on leg pain or sciatica
Researchers still argue about how common sciatica is, and precisely how it should be defined. One thing is clear: it's a warning sign of struggles ahead for a worker with back pain...
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Back pain with no explanation is scary
What do people with different kinds of back pain believe about pain and how do these beliefs impact recovery?
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Real bad back pain? On-the-spot physio provides short term gain
Physiotherapy for acute back pain is good in the short term, but education and movement bring long term benefits.
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What contributes to recurrent back bother?
A look at the workplace factors associated with repeat visits to back pain clinics
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Is your arthritis a pain in the back?
This study investigates the link between osteoarthritis in the facet joints of the spine and the presence of low back pain.
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Does safety education save backs?
Can workplace back safety education programs reduce the risk of back injuries and complications?
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Doctors and back pain: Who you see influences the treatment you get
While some doctors follow best practice guidelines for lower back pain, many get it wrong...
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Back pain? Stick a needle in it!
Researchers examine the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating chronic low back pain.
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When to take extended sick leave. A complex decision for workers with spine-related pain
This study identified a range of factors that influence when workers with neck and low-back (spine-related) pain take extended sick leave.
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Opioid use: less is better for back pain?
Treatment with opioids delays return to work and prolongs symptoms
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School of pain
How effective is individual patient education for people with low back pain?
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Back pain World Cup
How do different country's disability benefits and policies for occupational low back pain affect return to work rates?
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Fear, expectation and back pain - the evidence
Knowing what psychosocial factors affect recovery from low back pain can help target employee interventions
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Diagnosing back pain
A step-by-step guide for best practice diagnosis of back pain
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Back problems: beliefs and recovery - the evidence
A person's beliefs about back problems influence how they engage with treatment, so providing the right information is vital.
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Back pain and pessimism: A vicious cycle-The evidence
Pessimistic beliefs about back pain can prolong suffering and prevent proper treatment
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Despair and low back pain: Connecting as a starting point-The evidence
People with chronic low back pain can lose their sense of control over life, a major demotivating factor
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Back pain and work: Psychosocial factors. The evidence.
A range of studies explore whether psychosocial factors contribute to the development of back pain
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Back pain and work: Physical factors - Physical work. The evidence.
What does the research tell us about physical work and the impact on back pain?
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Low back pain: Which treatments work? - The evidence.
Less invasive treatments should be first port of call for low back pain.
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Workplace intervention VS clinical intervention
In this battle of the lower back pain heavyweights, who comes out on top and why?
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Get off your backside to improve your back!
Home exercise is a cheap and effective way to improve back pain
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Non-surgical treatment options for chronic back pain
Exercise, behavioural and multimodal programs: What works for RTW and why?
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Treating back pain with corticosteroids
Are steroid injections an effective way to treat acute back pain?
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School of (back) pain!
Brief, face-to-face education works best for chronic LBP rehabilitation
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Fear, distress and heavy lifting: predictors of ongoing back pain
Psychological distress, heavy lifting and fear of activity are better predictors of back pain than MRI scans.
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Tick, tick, tick: The timing of intervention.
Intervention by nurse case managers during the first week after onset of back pain improves workers' satisfaction with their employer and healthcare provider and reduces sick leave absences.
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Early intervention: Risky business?
Early intervention programs for lower back pain aim to keep workers in the workplace. How can you ensure that yours is a success?
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Shifting attitudes to back pain - the Scots follow the Aussies
A public health campaign in Scotland has improved people's understanding and beliefs about back problems.
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How effective is individual patient education for people with low back pain?
Evidence suggests provision of an intensive one-on-one education session can improve the short and long term return to work outcomes for patients with acute and sub-acute lower back pain.