For the past three years, researchers at the Universities of Utah, Wisconsin, and Texas, have been studying the occurrence of low back pain in study participants at various companies throughout the three states. Each month, researchers ask about back pain, job changes, and other factors in order to determine what kinds of personal and job-related factors may be related to back pain and other symptoms.
By gathering and analyzing this information, we hope to be able to build mathematical models for predicting low back pain disorders and associated risk factors. As we continue to collect data, we will be able to see if our predictions are correct and develop interventions in order to avoid the onset of these symptoms. We intend to take the models to various companies and help them develop interventions specific for their employees. We will also show them areas where they can change work conditions to improve the health of their workers and reduce the occurrence of work-related injuries..
Accuracy is essential for the development of these models. As we continue to collect data from participants we stress the importance in being accurate and providing complete and detailed information at monthly follow-up visits. It’s important that we record any and all changes in jobs and symptoms so that the interventions we eventually develop will be helpful and useful, not just to the individual companies we are working with, but for companies and employees nationwide.
Analyses are ongoing. We are currently writing a grant so we can continue the study for another three years and enroll additional participants. Along with continuing enrollments, we are currently seeking more companies interested in participating in the study. The longer we can gather data, the more people we have participating, and the greater range of companies involved, the greater the accuracy of the models we’ll be developing.
Thanks to your participation we are helping doctors and other health professionals learn how to identify and diagnose low back disorders. Although our analyses are still in the early stages, we have already identified many potential factors that are associated with these disorders. As we progress with this study and identify potential risk factors, we will continue to inform all participants involved.
