Health status, work limitations, and return-to-work trajectories in injured workers with musculoskeletal disorders
Open Access
- 7 July 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Quality of Life Research
- Vol. 16 (7), 1167-1178
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-007-9229-x
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe the health status and work limitations in injured workers with musculoskeletal disorders at 1 month post-injury, stratified by return-to-work status, and to document their return-to-work trajectories 6 months post-injury. A sample of 632 workers with a back or upper extremity musculoskeletal disorder, who filed a Workplace Safety and Insurance Board lost-time claim injury, participated in this prospective study. Participants were assessed at baseline (1 month post-injury) and at 6 months follow-up. One month post-injury, poor physical health, high levels of depressive symptoms and high work limitations are prevalent in workers, including in those with a sustained first return to work. Workers with a sustained first return to work report a better health status and fewer work limitations than those who experienced a recurrence of work absence or who never returned to work. Six months post-injury, the rate of recurrence of work absence in the trajectories of injured workers who have made at least one return to work attempt is high (38%), including the rate for workers with an initial sustained first return to work (27%). There are return-to-work status specific health outcomes in injured workers. A sustained first return to work is not equivalent to a complete recovery from musculoskeletal disorders.Keywords
This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit:
- The prognostic value of depressive symptoms, fear-avoidance, and self-efficacy for duration of lost-time benefits in workers with musculoskeletal disordersOccupational and Environmental Medicine, 2006
- Health Status, Its Perceptions, and Effect on Return to Work and Recurrent Sick LeaveSpine, 2005
- Reliability, Validity, and Responsiveness of the Short Form 12-Item Survey (SF-12) in Patients With Back PainSpine, 2003
- The impact of occupational injury on injured worker and family: Outcomes of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders in Maryland workersAmerican Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2000
- A 12-Item Short-Form Health SurveyMedical Care, 1996
- Managing Work Disability: Why First Return to Works is Not a Measure of SuccessILR Review, 1995
- Grading the severity of chronic painPain, 1992
- Comparative Validity of the Sickness Impact Profile and Shorter Scales for Functional Assessment in Low-Back PainSpine, 1986
- A Study of the Natural History of Back PainSpine, 1983
- The CES-D ScaleApplied Psychological Measurement, 1977