Assessment of Fitness for Return to Work: Difference between revisions

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Introduction
== Current Musculoskeletal Trends ==
Musculoskeletal pain is very common with prevalence rates of around 30% per year (ranging from 14-47%) and incidence rates of 8.3% per year.<ref name=":0">Sleijser-Koehorst MLS, Bijker L, Cuijpers P, Scholten-Peeters GGM, Coppieters MW. Preferred self-administered questionnaires to assess fear of movement, coping, self-efficacy, and catastrophizing in patients with musculoskeletal pain-A modified Delphi study. ''Pain''. 2019;160(3):600-606.</ref>  It tends to affect an individual at least once in his or her lifetime.<ref name=":1">Gouttebarge V, Wind H, Kuijer PP, Sluiter JK, Frings-Dresen MH. How to assess physical work-ability with Functional Capacity Evaluation methods in a more specific and efficient way?. ''Work''. 2010;37(1):111-115. </ref> It is a major cause of disability, resulting in absence from work or functional limitations at work, as well as a general reduction in ability to undertake normal activities.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
 
At present, there is a trend towards increasing disability from musculoskeletal conditions. However, while disability increases, prevalence rates for these conditions are static. There are also ever increasing treatment options and reduction in workloads because of greater regulation WEBINAR).
 
It is thought that this increase in disability may, therefore, be due to factors such as:
 
Obesity
 
Ageing populations
 
Sedentary behaviour
 
Impact of Musculoskeletal Conditions on Work
 
The impact of a musculoskeletal condition on a worker is variable and affected by a number of factors. Patients who have chronic musculoskeletal conditions are more likely to be absent from work (i.e. 40% can work full time) than people with other medical conditions such as diabetes, heart and lung conditions (i.e. 50% can work full time). WEBINAR). It is thought that this difference in working rates for individuals with musculoskeletal conditions may be related to the fact that people are more likely to connect their health condition to work than individuals with other health conditions (WEBINAR).
 
However, each individual’s unique response to his / her pain will influence his / her prognosis. Depression, anxiety, psychosocial factors (including how well an individual deals with pain, fear of movement, pain catastrophisation, low self-efficacy and passive pain coping mechanisms) are important areas to consider when assessing these patients’ fitness to return to work. SEIJSER If an individual fears that work will worsen his / her condition, it may have an impact on his / her ability to return to work (WEB)
 
De Vries and colleagues report that, in general, patients who have chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain and who remain at work report poor to moderate work ability and performance. However, they found that a subgroup of workers are able to remain at work and achieve high performance and ability. These individuals tend to have high levels of pain self-efficacy. Thus, it appears that personal and work-related factors affect work ability and performance rather than pain alone. (DeVRIES)

Revision as of 01:17, 15 August 2020

Current Musculoskeletal Trends[edit | edit source]

Musculoskeletal pain is very common with prevalence rates of around 30% per year (ranging from 14-47%) and incidence rates of 8.3% per year.[1]  It tends to affect an individual at least once in his or her lifetime.[2] It is a major cause of disability, resulting in absence from work or functional limitations at work, as well as a general reduction in ability to undertake normal activities.[1][2]

At present, there is a trend towards increasing disability from musculoskeletal conditions. However, while disability increases, prevalence rates for these conditions are static. There are also ever increasing treatment options and reduction in workloads because of greater regulation WEBINAR).

It is thought that this increase in disability may, therefore, be due to factors such as:

Obesity

Ageing populations

Sedentary behaviour

Impact of Musculoskeletal Conditions on Work

The impact of a musculoskeletal condition on a worker is variable and affected by a number of factors. Patients who have chronic musculoskeletal conditions are more likely to be absent from work (i.e. 40% can work full time) than people with other medical conditions such as diabetes, heart and lung conditions (i.e. 50% can work full time). WEBINAR). It is thought that this difference in working rates for individuals with musculoskeletal conditions may be related to the fact that people are more likely to connect their health condition to work than individuals with other health conditions (WEBINAR).

However, each individual’s unique response to his / her pain will influence his / her prognosis. Depression, anxiety, psychosocial factors (including how well an individual deals with pain, fear of movement, pain catastrophisation, low self-efficacy and passive pain coping mechanisms) are important areas to consider when assessing these patients’ fitness to return to work. SEIJSER If an individual fears that work will worsen his / her condition, it may have an impact on his / her ability to return to work (WEB)

De Vries and colleagues report that, in general, patients who have chronic nonspecific musculoskeletal pain and who remain at work report poor to moderate work ability and performance. However, they found that a subgroup of workers are able to remain at work and achieve high performance and ability. These individuals tend to have high levels of pain self-efficacy. Thus, it appears that personal and work-related factors affect work ability and performance rather than pain alone. (DeVRIES)

  1. 1.0 1.1 Sleijser-Koehorst MLS, Bijker L, Cuijpers P, Scholten-Peeters GGM, Coppieters MW. Preferred self-administered questionnaires to assess fear of movement, coping, self-efficacy, and catastrophizing in patients with musculoskeletal pain-A modified Delphi study. Pain. 2019;160(3):600-606.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Gouttebarge V, Wind H, Kuijer PP, Sluiter JK, Frings-Dresen MH. How to assess physical work-ability with Functional Capacity Evaluation methods in a more specific and efficient way?. Work. 2010;37(1):111-115.