Therapeutic and Preventive Efficacy of an Intervention on Workers in a Back School.

Alberto Benito Rodríguez,Miguel Marcos,Helena Iglesias De Sena,José Ángel Santos Sánchez,Antonio Javier Chamorro,Hugo Guillermo Ternavasio-De La Vega,José Antonio Mirón-Canelo

doi:10.3390/ijerph19021000

Abstract

Back pain and its ailments are the main cause of absenteeism and sick leave. Furthermore, the cause of pain and disability in a large number of workers is unknown, and treatments are not effective in controlling it. For this reason, the Back Schools (BSs) provide theoretical and practical training to workers so that they can acquire knowledge and skills that will allow them to adequately manage their back problems, enabling them to recover their autonomy and prevent relapses. The aim of the study is to analyse the efficacy of a BS by means of the evaluation of pain and disability scales in workers in different sectors and in construction. The most important clinical benefits obtained after the intervention of a BS are the reduction of pain and disability. Statistically significant and clinically relevant results have been observed between the initial assessment and the 6-month review. BS has been shown to be effective in reducing low back and neck pain and disability during the first 6 months of follow-up. Construction workers have pain and disability rates at the overall mean and with improvements between the initial assessment and the 6-month review. Their rates of improvement are clinically more relevant than for the overall population analysed.

Highlights

Spine pathology is the most expensive industrial disease, the main cause of disability in individuals under 45 years of age and the main reason for medical consultation, both in primary care and in hospitals
The initial sample for this study drew upon an initial database of 3281 workers with low back or neck pain, who participated in the Back Schools (BSs) programme of the Mutua de Accidentes de Trabajo y Enfermedades Profesionales Ibermutua between 1 April 2009 and 28 March
Of the 3281 students who participated in the Ibermutua BS between 2009 and 2019, 1452 (44.25%) were women and 1829 (55.75%) were men

Summary

Introduction

Spine pathology is the most expensive industrial disease, the main cause of disability in individuals under 45 years of age and the main reason for medical consultation, both in primary care and in hospitals. Back pain is one of the oldest and most frequent ailments of humanity, probably arising as a consequence of the development of bipedal ambulation and the requirement for a flexible spine [1]. 85% of cases of dorsolumbar pain have no known cause and most treatments have not been effective for its control; it has come to be considered one of the greatest failures of present-day medicine, since chronic pain has not been solved and disability has not been reduced. Dorsolumbar pain is a problem that affects 70–80% of the general population at some point in their lives, of which approximately 15% cases have a clear origin; the.

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