Articles: back-pain.
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Comparative Study
Industrial low-back pain. A prospective evaluation of a standardized diagnostic and treatment protocol.
This investigation applied a diagnostic and treatment protocol to two groups of industrial workers: 5,300 employees at Potomac Electric Power Company ( PEPCO ) for two years and 14,000 United States Postal Service workers for one year. An "active" system in which patients were evaluated weekly was implemented at the power company, and a "passive" system in which patients were seen only once was instituted at the U. S. ⋯ S. Postal Service demonstrated a decrease in the number of low-back pain patients (41%), in days lost from work (60%), and in financial costs (55%). These results, along with our observations about the study, led us to the following conclusions: (1) Good medicine leads to cost savings in treating industrial low-back pain. (2) Use of a standardized medical approach and nomenclature is necessary and practical, for consistent care. (3) A good record keeping system is essential to perform useful medical analyses for identifying scientific problems. (4) Unbiased medical surveillance leads to changes in behavior of both treating physicians and patients. (5) The outcome for most low-back pain patients in industry is not as grim as previously perceived if their medical management is approached in an organized manner.
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Social science & medicine · Jan 1984
Patient evaluation of a cognitive behavioral group program for patients with chronic low back pain.
Traditional approaches to curing patients with chronic benign pain have had only limited success. Rehabilitation becomes therefore more important and in recent years management programs have been developed to achieve this goal. This study was based on the hypothesis that a program can be more effective with its structure according to the comments of patients with respect to the various components of the program. After testing this hypothesis we conclude that such subjective evaluation of treatment is an important factor which merits receiving more attention than previous work has suggested.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[Evaluation of the analgesic activity of zomepirac sodium on sciatica and lower back pain].
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Arch Phys Med Rehabil · Nov 1983
Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialHypnosis compared to relaxation in the outpatient management of chronic low back pain.
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) presents a problem of massive dimensions. While inpatient approaches have been evaluated, outpatient treatment programs have received relatively little examination. Hypnosis and relaxation are two powerful techniques amenable to outpatient use. ⋯ Self-Hypnosis subjects reported less time to sleep onset, and physicians rated their use of medication as less problematic after treatment. While both treatments were effective, neither proved superior to the other. The placebo treatment produced nonsignificant improvement.