Impact of low back and neck pain on the Spanish women-workers' health: effectiveness of a Back School

BACKGROUND: Neck and back pain pathologies are currently the main cause of absenteeism from work in Spain and in the European Union, and represent a high socio-labor, economic and health cost for the Health Systems. AIM: To assess the effectiveness of a Back School Program of a Spanish mutual insurance company (risk factors, pain and disability scales) in women workers with low back or neck pain. DESIGN: We combined a descriptive study of first-session data collected in the total sample and a prospective multicenter intervention study in those participants who completed the second and third check-up at 6 and 9 months. SETTING: Women workers with low back or neck pain, from different sectors and occupations, who participated in a Back School Program of Ibermutua, a Spanish mutual insurance company, during the period from April 1 st , 2009, to March 28 t h , 2019. POPULATION: Overall, 1452 women workers participated in the first session, 150 in the second session (6-month review) and 133 in the third session (9-month review). METHODS: Different questionnaires and scales were used for data collection, Visual Analog Scale, Neck Disability Index, Oswestry Disability Index, Concept Check Questionnaire and Back School Program Effectiveness Questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 1095 (75.4%) had low back pain and 742 (51.1%) had neck pain (497 of them had pain in both locations); 42.8% (622) related the pain to their work activity. One in four women workers (390, 26.9%) performed a high-risk work activity (handling, weight transport, mechanical vibrations), 27.4% were prolonged standing and 22.8% were prolonged sitting. The workers participated in the Back School Program for two purposes: therapeutic (1150 women, 79.2%) and preventive (302 women, 20.8%). CONCLUSIONS : The Back School is an effective intervention to manage pain and reduce disability in women workers. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: This study provided evidence that the Back School Program can be suitable for preventing and improving low back and neck pain and functional disability among women workers. The success of the Back Schools depends on women workers becoming aware of the importance of preventive measures aimed at strengthening the back muscles and collaborating actively, thus significantly reducing the incidence of low back and cervical pain in the workplace.