skincaremanual.org

Roundtable discussion about caffeine and physical performance

June 23, 2017

Advising patients to take work absence was extremely common. Eighty percent of respondents reported recommending work absence to patients with LBP sometimes, and an additional 13% reported that they do so often or always. While 70% of practitioners never visited the workplace to advise and prescribe ergonomic changes, investigators found that a common practice was the prescription of exercises that could be incorporated into the work routine, with 83% reporting that they do so always or often. Although it was common to recommend a short break from work, less than 2% of respondents prescribed sick leave certification for LBP often or always.

Physiotherapists, who in the UK are employed by the National Health Service, more strongly endorsed the benefits of work to aid in recovery from LBP than either osteopaths or chiropractors, who typically work in the private sector. Physiotherapists also agreed significantly less with the notion that work can either cause or exacerbate pain, and they tended to endorse limiting the number of treatment sessions for LBP.

Reports of visiting the workplace directly and contacting employers to allow for coordinated action to support people staying at work during LBP were extremely low in this study. "Integrated care at work has shown promising results in earlier clinical trials. If return to work is beneficial to patients and is a primary goal for cost savings, bringing these practitioners on board and altering their perceptions of the individual-employer-clinician triad is important," says Dr. Pincus.

Source: Elsevier Health Sciences