How to Ease the Pain of Workers' Back Pain

Tuesday, November 18, 2008 | 0

By Russell R. Oliver

For employers, back pain is a big pain.

One estimate pegs the tab for workers’ compensation costs and time lost from work due to back pain at $25 billion a year.

Workers’ compensation insurance costs U.S. employers 2% to 4% of their gross earnings, according to a 2007 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and most of that money underwrites back injuries. According to the 2007 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, direct U.S. workers’ compensation costs for the most disabling workplace injuries and illnesses—including back pain and injuries—added up to an estimated $48.3 billion in 2005.

To put it bluntly, much of the burden for back pain and injuries in this country rests on the backs of employers. Today, back-related injuries affect roughly one-third of the workforce and account for about one-fourth of all workers’ compensation claims.

Unfortunately, the costs associated with back pain keep climbing. In 2005, Americans spent nearly $86 billion seeking medical relief from back and neck pain, up from $52.1 billion in 1997, according to a study published in February by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

So, what can employers do to ease the financial hurt from back pain and injuries?

Institute a workplace safety program that features information and training on how to properly lift objects. Overexertion—which includes injuries related to lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, carrying or throwing—represented $12.7 billion in direct costs for businesses in 2005, according to the 2007 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.

Give your workers a break. Employees who lift things for a living need to take longer or more frequent breaks than they’re doing now to avoid back injury, according to a study from Ohio State University. A half-hour break goes a long way toward helping muscles recover from hard labor.

Be nice to an injured employee. This may sound elementary, but it can prevent plenty of headaches.

A study published in 2007 by the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine showed that a worker’s satisfaction with an employer’s treatment of a disability claim for back pain plays a more significant role in a positive return-to-work scenario than satisfaction with health care providers or the employee’s expectations about recovery. On the other hand, a dissatisfied employee is more likely to submit lost-time claims and more likely to be away from work for stretches of time.

Foster a workplace atmosphere that supports healthy living.

Researchers at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business found that overall health—especially mental health—contributes greatly to how successful an employee is at returning to work after a bout with back pain.

Endorse quit-smoking efforts. Your body may not be able to get enough nutrients to the discs in your back if you smoke, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Also, people who smoke heal slowly, so back pain may last longer. Research published in The British Medical Journal shows that recovery from low back pain is much slower than previously thought and even slower for those with an injury that warrants compensation.

Promote physical fitness, particularly low-impact aerobic activities. Back pain is more common in people who aren’t fit, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Encourage healthy eating. According to the National Institutes of Health, a diet high in calories and fat can cause weight gain; too much weight can stress the back and trigger pain.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 345,000 back injuries required time away from work in 2002. A study by Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in 2004 found that back pain results in more than 100 million lost work days each year.

As those figures indicate, back problems are pervasive and aggravating. But healthy eating, physical fitness and other proactive steps can help relieve the pain that employers suffer as a result of employees’ back problems.

Russell R. Oliver is president of Austin-based Texas Mutual Insurance Company, the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance.