EFFECTIVENESS OF WORKPLACE INTERVENTION STRATEGIES IN LOWER BACK PAIN PREVENTION

Dr. Nirmal Kumar Barman*, Dr. Md. Abdullah-Hel-Baki, Dr. Milon Kumar Roy, Dr. Rizowana Akter,
Dr. Md. Monwar Hossain and Dr. Jaitun Neher

ABSTRACT

Background: Involuntary absence from work due to low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability among employees under the age of 45. Multiple factors are believed to contribute to the development of LBP. Those who spend their days at an office and may be at risk for low back pain (LBP) have not been the focus of much prognostic study. Objective: In this study our goal is to evaluate the Effectiveness of workplace intervention strategies in lower back pain prevention. Method: A quasi-experimental study involving patients with non-specific chronic low back pain (NSLBP) was performed at tertiary hospital from January 2021 to January 2022. The participants gave their written informed consent once the trial procedure was explained to them. They were 100 patients diagnosed of mild to moderate non-specific low back pain(of at least 12 weeks duration) by the orthopaedic surgeon and/or anesthesiologist. Results: During the study, majority were belonging to 47-57 years age group, 60%. 66% had history of smoking and 50% were overweight followed by mean PI, DI, KIN, BME were 6.74 ± 1.37, 46.60 ± 16.67, 40.55 ± 5.61, 11.05 ± 8.39. During the study, the majority 50% of study participants reported low back pain has prevented them from doing their jobs one to 7 days in the past 12 months. In addition to that, while measuring quality of life and stress level among patients it was found that, nearly all office workers reported fair to good quality of life but about half of them experienced high to extremely high stress. However, after lumber stabilization exercise there were significant reductions in pain intensity scores (experimental: 6.74 ± 1.37; 3.48±1.09) and disability index scores (experimental: 46.60± 16.67; 26.55±14.78) and increase in back muscle endurance (experimental: 11.05± 8.39; 14.30±19.24s) between baseline and week 8. Conclusion: More effective relief from low back pain was attained when standard Physiotherapy was supplemented with lumbar stabilization exercises. The external validity of future research will improve if sample sizes are increased.

Keywords: Pain management, lower back pain, lumbar stabilization exercises.