No Shortage of Back Pain

Back pain, back pain, everywhere there's back pain. Back pain is second only to the common cold as the most frequent cause of sick leave, accounting for approximately 40% of all work absences. It's also the most common reason for filing workers' compensation claims (about 25% of all claims filed in the U.S.).

How bad is the situation? A study in the American Journal of Public Health analyzed data from a national health interview survey and found over 30,000 respondents who reported daily back pain of one week or more in the 12 months prior to the survey. From this data, the authors estimated that more than 22 million people suffer from back pain that lasts one week or more; these cases result in an estimated 149 million lost workdays.

These estimates didn't even include workers who reported back pain of less than one week, or who missed work for the entire study period! If you've managed to escape back pain to this point, it's probably just a matter of time until you're caught. But if you do get caught and need relief, feel free to call me to see what can be done.

Reference:
Guo HR, Tanaka S, Halperin WE, et al. Back pain prevalence in U.S. industry and estimates of lost workdays. American Journal of Public Health, July 1999: Vol. 89, No. 7, pp1029-1035.