Effectiveness of workplace nterventions targeting return to work in patients with low back and neck pain: a systematic review

Background: Back and neck pain is among the most damaging issues to human health, economy and quality of life. Stakeholders have a large incentive to collaborate in research improving return to work. This study takes aim in mapping out the most important research on the efficacy of workplace interventions in the last 10 years. Method: A literary search was conducted in MEDLINE through the PubMed search engine. The search was left intentionally broad using only the search MeSH terms low back pain OR neck pain AND return to work. The search yield was 300 articles. 66 articles were deemed satisfactory upon initial screen, and only 9 remained after thorough review. Results: Out of the 9 included articles 3 described neck pain and 6 described low back pain. The studies on back pain predominantly measured the outcome in days of sick leave collected from social security registers. The studies naming their interventions participatory ergonomics proved the most effective at reducing sick leave. Discussion: The overall aim of this review was to identify and summarize studies describing workplace interventions targeting return to work in patients with low back and neck pain. The search methodology and MeSH terms used failed to discover all the relevant articles they were intended to find. Lack of consensus on the definition of a workplace intervention made systematizing research difficult