Back pain and work disability: The need for a new paradigm

Using a unique data set of workers' compensation claims from Ontario, this study analyzes the determinants of first returns to work and subsequent patterns of employment for a sample of workers with back pain and a comparison group of workers with other injuries. The results suggest that the costly and pervasive problem of work-related back claims could be reduced by abandoning the traditional work injury model in favor of a separate paradigm for back pain that reflects its unique characteristics; A change in economic incentives would increase the probability of return to work for back cases, and an expansion of employer-provided job accommodations would increase the probability of stable employment after the first return.