Worksite interventions for preventing physical deterioration among employees in job-groups with high physical work demands: Background, design and conceptual model of FINALE

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A mismatch between individual physical capacities and physical work demands enhance the risk for musculoskeletal disorders, poor work ability and sickness absence, termed physical deterioration. However, effective intervention strategies for preventing physical deterioration in job groups with high physical demands remains to be established. This paper describes the background, design and conceptual model of the FINALE programme, a framework for health promoting interventions at 4 Danish job groups (i.e. cleaners, health-care workers, construction workers and industrial workers) characterized by high physical work demands, musculoskeletal disorders, poor work ability and sickness absence.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>A novel approach of the FINALE programme is that the interventions, i.e. 3 randomized controlled trials (RCT) and 1 exploratory case-control study are tailored to the physical work demands, physical capacities and health profile of workers in each job-group. The RCT among cleaners, characterized by repetitive work tasks and musculoskeletal disorders, aims at making the cleaners less susceptible to musculoskeletal disorders by physical coordination training or cognitive behavioral theory based training (CBTr). Because health-care workers are reported to have high prevalence of overweight and heavy lifts, the aim of the RCT is long-term weight-loss by combined physical exercise training, CBTr and diet. Construction work, characterized by heavy lifting, pushing and pulling, the RCT aims at improving physical capacity and promoting musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health. At the industrial work-place characterized by repetitive work tasks, the intervention aims at reducing physical exertion and musculoskeletal disorders by combined physical exercise training, CBTr and participatory ergonomics. The overall aim of the FINALE programme is to improve the safety margin between individual resources (i.e. physical capacities, and cognitive and behavioral skills) and physical work demands, and thereby reduce the physical deterioration in a long term perspective by interventions tailored for each respective job-group.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The FINALE programme has the potential to provide evidence-based knowledge of significant importance for public health policy and health promotion strategies for employees at high risk for physical deterioration.</p> <p>Trial registrations</p> <p>ISRCTN96241850, NCT01015716 and NCT01007669</p

The transition of reported pain in different body regions – a one-year follow-up study

BACKGROUND: The course of pain at a specific region such as the lower back has previously been shown as well as for generalized pain. However we have not found any report on the course of pain from various different specific regions. The aim of this investigation was to study the one-year transition of reported pain in different body locations. METHODS: From a general population 14555 men and women, 46–68 years, responded to an extensive health questionnaire including the standardized Nordic questionnaire. The population represented 27% of the total population within the age group in Malmö, Sweden. At the one year follow-up 12607 responded to the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 87%. The one year prevalence of long-lasting pain and the pattern of pain reporting from different regions were studied for men and women. RESULTS: The one-year prevalence of long-lasting neck pain was 14% (95% CI 13–15) among men and 25% (95% CI 24–26) among women at baseline and 15% (95% CI 14–16) for the men and 23% (95% CI 22–24) for the women at follow-up. Of those reporting neck pain "all the time" at baseline, 48% of the men and 54% of the women also reported neck pain "all the time" at the one-year follow-up. At the follow-up neck pain was reported as present "often" by 43% of the men and 47% of the women who reported neck pain "often" at baseline. Similar transition pattern were found for neck, shoulders, elbow/wrist/hand and lower back symptoms, as well as consistent prevalence rates. CONCLUSION: The one-year transition pattern of reported pain was similar in different body regions and among men and women. Furthermore the prevalence rates of long-lasting pain in the population were consistent at baseline and the follow-up. The findings of similar transition patterns support the interpretation of long-lasting pain as a generalized phenomenon rather than attributed to specific exposure. This may have implications for future pain research

A randomised controlled trial among cleaners-Effects on strength, balance and kinesiophobia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cleaners constitute a job group with poor health and low socioeconomic resources. Therefore, there is a great need for scientifically documented health promoting initiatives for cleaners. However, both workplace initiatives and high quality intervention studies are lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 3-month workplace trial with interventions to improve physical or cognitive behavioural resources among cleaners.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted among 294 female cleaners from 9 workplaces. The participants were allocated to three groups: Physical coordination training (PCT, n = 95), Cognitive behavioural theory-based training (CBTr, n = 99) and Reference group (REF, n = 100). Interventions were conducted during work hours for an average of 1 hour/week. Muscle strength was measured by maximal voluntary contractions in trunk/extension, and shoulder abduction/elevation. Postural balance was measured on a force platform. Kinesiophobia was measured with Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia. Test and questionnaires were completed at baseline and at 3-month follow-up and analyses followed the intention-to-treat (ITT) principle with last observation carried forward in case of missing data at follow-up. Reports and analyses are given on true observations as well.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ITT-analyses revealed that PCT improved strength of the trunk (p < .05) and postural balance (p < .05) compared to CBTr and REF. Based on true observations the strength and balance improvements corresponded to ~20% and ~16%, respectively. ITT-analyses showed that CBTr reduced kinesiophobia compared to PCT and REF (p < .05). Based on true observations, the improvement corresponded to a ~16% improvement.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This workplace-based intervention study including PCT and CBTr among cleaners improved strength and postural balance from PCT, and kinesiophobia from CBTr. The improved strength, postural balance and kinesiophobia may improve the cleaners' tolerance for high physical work demands. Future studies should investigate the potential in the combination of PCT and CBTr in a workplace intervention.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current controlled trials <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN96241850">ISRCTN96241850</a></p

CHRONIC MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN. Population studies of pain-experience with special focus on the Total Body Pain and aspects of adaptation in a cognitive-behavior psychological frame of reference

Musculoskeletal pain-related vocational dysfunction is a major public health problem. The solution is beyond the scope of biomedicine, but the problem could well be analyzed in the complementary, cognitive-behavior psychological frame of reference. In order to better prevent the development of pain-related dysfunction: The sociodemographic milieu of dysfunctional chronic pain patients was examined. The concept of pain, assessed by the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire (SNQ), was validated and the concept of Total Body Pain (TBP) de-fined and its epidemiology studied. In a prospective design, short- and long-term sick leave as resulting from me-chanical exposure, psychosocial- workplace and spare time factors and subject’s pain load was studied. Adaptive and maladaptive behavioral coping strategies, tapped by the newly translated Swedish version of the Chronic Pain Coping Inventory (CPCI), were reported, studying two populations, comparable in terms of Pain Load but work-ing full-time and long-term sick listed respectively. It was concluded that: The concept of pain was well reflected in the SNQ. The concept of TBP equaled pain as-sessed by the SNQ considering relations to scores of Self-Rated Health (SRH) and Mental Distress. Independently of working status, SRH decreased with both increasing TBP-score and increasing pain in the Shoulder-Neck area. Women showed the same SRH levels independently of working status, whereas men scored their SRH better than women did when working full-time and worse, when they were out of full-time gainful work. The TBP should be under control in epidemiological studies of work-related musculoskeletal pain. Mechanical exposure, bad pos-tures, was the only workplace factor that independently predicted incident and recurrent short- and incident long-term sick leave. In addition, previous short-term sick leave was of importance, whereas low Self-Rated Health predicted long-term sick leave only. The overall pain load was of equal importance as other factors assessed, pre-dicting both short- and long-term sick leave and introduced no effect modification when analyzing long-term sick leave. Pain load and previous short-term sick leave confounded self-rated health considering short-tern sick leave. Assessed by the CPCI, adaptive and maladaptive coping-behavior, with high discriminative power, separated vo-cationally active subjects from subjects on long-term sick leave, with no gender difference

Behaviour-focused pain coping: consistency and convergence to work capability of the swedish version of the chronic pain coping inventory.

The aim was to study the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the Chronic Pain Coping Inventory. The material consisted of a group of 100 subjects recruited from a large population study. Pain status and the absence of pain-related sick leave during the previous year conditioned inclusion. Another group comprised 160 patients on the long-term sick list and who had been referred to a multidisciplinary pain clinic for evaluation. The psychometric properties in terms of internal consistency of the scales were good or very good for all scales of behaviour-focused pain coping. Use of the strategies "Guarding", "Resting", "Asking for assistance", "Relaxation", "Task persistence", "Coping self-statements" and "Seeking social support" was significantly related to vocational capability. "Guarding". "Asking for assistance", "Relaxation", "Exercise and stretch" and "Coping self-statements" increased in parallel to increasing pain from localized to intermediate or widespread. No gender difference was found in cases reporting more pronounced pain

Regionala riktlinjer vid förskrivning av beroendeframkallande läkemedel i Region Skåne

Sammanfattande kommentarer och rekommendation • Opioider och bensodiazepiner är kraftfulla läkemedel med god patientnytta i utvalda fall och under begränsade behandlingstider.• Läkare/vårdenhet som initierat förskrivning har ansvar för denna tills den upphört eller tills annaninstans accepterat övertag – Behandlingsansvar• Basbehandling – överväg alltid först alternativa behandlingsstrategier, såväl icke-farmakologiska som farmakologiska• Fortsätt med den basbehandling som fungerar även om beroendeframkallande läkemedel förskrivs• Gör Riskbedömning av beroende/överdosering före nyinsättning och vid varje förskrivningstillfälle. • Samtidig behandling med opioid och bensodiazepin innebär ökad risk för letal intoxikation. • Planera för korttidsbehandling – och var tydlig med det.• Kontinuerligt långtidsbruk medför ofta negativa effekter och har kända risker.• Vid all långtidsbehandling – överväg indikation och säkerhet regelbundet och diskutera med patienten om biverkningar och effekt.• Intermittent behandling vid recidiverande/kroniska besvär kan vara ett alternativ.• God Kontroll över förskrivningen innebäro tillgång till patientens uppgifter i Nationella läkemedelslistan utan spärrar, dvs patienten har inte dolt recept- och uttagsinformation via till exempel Läkemedelskolleno förskrivarkontinuiteto ställningstagande till behov av provtagning för alkohol/drogscreening och till korta uthämtningsintervall/dosdispensering/utdelning av mediciner • Patientinformation med nedtrappningsschema hittas i slutet av dokumentet

Implementation of physical coordination training and cognitive behavioural training interventions at cleaning workplaces - secondary analyses of a randomised controlled trial

This study evaluates the implementation of physical coordination training (PCT) and cognitive behavioural training (CBTr) interventions in a randomised controlled trial at nine cleaners' workplaces. Female cleaners (n - 294) were randomised into a PCT, a CBTr or a reference (REF) group. Both 12-week interventions were performed in groups guided by an instructor. Records were kept on intervention dose (adherence) unanticipated events at the work place (context) and quality of intervention delivery (fidelity). Participant adherence was 37% in the PCT and 49% in the CBTr interventions. Optimal implementation was reached by only 6% in PCT and 42% in the CBTr. Analysis of the barriers to successful implementation indicated that the intervention process is sensitive to unanticipated events. In order to succeed in improving the health of high-risk populations such as cleaners and to correctly interpret intervention effects, more research on implementation is needed. Trial registration: ISRCTN96241850. Practitioner Summary: Both physical coordination training and cognitive behavioural training are potential effective workplace interventions among low educated job groups with high physical work demands. However, thorough consideration should be given to feasibility in the design of interventions. The optimal intervention should be tailored to closely match the implementation context and be robust and flexible to minimise susceptibility to changes in work organisation

The transition of reported pain in different body regions – a one-year follow-up study

Abstract Background The course of pain at a specific region such as the lower back has previously been shown as well as for generalized pain. However we have not found any report on the course of pain from various different specific regions. The aim of this investigation was to study the one-year transition of reported pain in different body locations. Methods From a general population 14555 men and women, 46–68 years, responded to an extensive health questionnaire including the standardized Nordic questionnaire. The population represented 27% of the total population within the age group in Malmö, Sweden. At the one year follow-up 12607 responded to the questionnaire, yielding a response rate of 87%. The one year prevalence of long-lasting pain and the pattern of pain reporting from different regions were studied for men and women. Results The one-year prevalence of long-lasting neck pain was 14% (95% CI 13–15) among men and 25% (95% CI 24–26) among women at baseline and 15% (95% CI 14–16) for the men and 23% (95% CI 22–24) for the women at follow-up. Of those reporting neck pain "all the time" at baseline, 48% of the men and 54% of the women also reported neck pain "all the time" at the one-year follow-up. At the follow-up neck pain was reported as present "often" by 43% of the men and 47% of the women who reported neck pain "often" at baseline. Similar transition pattern were found for neck, shoulders, elbow/wrist/hand and lower back symptoms, as well as consistent prevalence rates. Conclusion The one-year transition pattern of reported pain was similar in different body regions and among men and women. Furthermore the prevalence rates of long-lasting pain in the population were consistent at baseline and the follow-up. The findings of similar transition patterns support the interpretation of long-lasting pain as a generalized phenomenon rather than attributed to specific exposure. This may have implications for future pain research.</p