How do job stress and ergonomic factors impact clinic visits in acute low back pain? A prospective study.

Abstract

We sought to identify whether ergonomic factors, job stress, health behavior, and emotional distress are prospectively related to return visits for acute back pain. A total of 368 U.S. Army soldiers completed a baseline survey of health and work factors at their first visit for back pain. Multivariable regression and structural equation modeling were used to describe the relationships among ergonomic exposure, job stress, smoking, and emotional distress and their ability to predict repeat clinic visits. The path analysis indicated that higher levels of ergonomic exposures were directly related to increased job stress (beta = 0.29). Higher levels of job stress were directly related to higher levels of general distress (beta = -35). General distress (beta = -0.70) and smoking (beta = 0.67) were directly linked to clinic visits. Efforts to directly impact emotional distress or indirectly reduce distress by intervening at the levels of ergonomic risks and psychosocial workplace stress should prove useful in the management of acute low back pain.