Spinal Column: Employees with “back smarts” might move boss to the head of the class

Described as the “nemesis of medicine and the albatross of industry,” it's no wonder that countries across our globe seek to tame the ugly woes of good old fashioned back pain. Statisticians tell us that 80 percent of the population will experience back pain at some point in their lives and of this about 35 percent will be work-related.

Recently, I ran across a very interesting research article published about a decade ago from “down under” in the Australasian Chiropractic and Osteopathy journal that investigated an intriguing way of facing this so called “albatross” – an albatross that costs them an estimated $8 billion annually in disability and lost production.

A chiropractor was brought into a large mailing house company in Sydney, Australia, to tour the workplace and observe the employees as they went about their daily activities. From his observations, he customized a spinal care and injury prevention class. The class, among other things, detailed spinal anatomy, causes of back pain, basic spinal biomechanics, correct lifting procedures, effective exercises, ergonomic analysis, and treatments for back problems.

Three groups of workers were formed: One group attended the spinal care class, another was given a set of daily warm-up stretches to perform, and the final group went about their work as usual with no form of intervention whatsoever.

The results: after taking the spinal care class, the average cost of injuries went from $451 in the six months prior down to $194 in the first three months following the training, and then rose a bit to $269 six months after the class. In comparison, the corresponding “stretching group” figures were $396, $409 and $382, respectively. And the “work as usual group” figures were $420, $472, and $423, respectively.

In other words, the cost of reported back injuries decreased by 57 percent in the first three months in the group that took the class when compared to it's pre-intervention levels. At the six month follow-up the cost of back injuries still remained 40 percent lower than previous levels.

If you are an employer and are looking to improve your bottom line by reducing your lost-time percent expenditures, consider encouraging your local chiropractor to arrange a customized spinal care class for your work team. Doing so just might move you to the head of the class.

Dr. Thomas R. Lamar is a chiropractor at Anchor Chiropractic in the Health Services Center and holds a postgraduate certification as a Chiropractic Extremities Practitioner. He invites you to visit his website, www.AbetterBackbone.Com, to find this article, along with many more, to help explain today's chiropractic. He can be reached at (360) 297-8111.

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