ArticleJournal of occupational and environmental medicine2018
Early Return to Work Has Benefits for Relief of Back Pain and Functional Recovery After Controlling for Multiple Confounds.
Article in Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on human musculoskeletal pathologies in clinical studies: a systematic review.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Pooled it
- The clinical course of acute, subacute and persistent low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of two vocational interventions on sickness absence and costs for people with musculoskeletal disorders: 12 months results from the MI-NAV multi-arm randomized trial.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2025Trial
- Article
- Arthroscopic PRP gel augmentation at the tendon-bone interface accelerates functional recovery and structural healing in rotator cuff repair: a retrospective cohort study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- A systematic review of programs and interventions for reduction of sickness absence in nursing staff with work-related musculoskeletal disorders.Journal of education and health promotion · 2024Review
- A Qualitative Investigation of the Psychosocial Impact of Chronic Low Back Pain in Ghana.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Review
- Factors associated with long term work incapacity following a non-catastrophic road traffic injury: analysis of a two-year prospective cohort study.BMC public health · 2022Article
- How to get the most out of the fit note.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Age Differences in Work-Disability Duration Across Canada: Examining Variations by Follow-Up Time and Context.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2021Article
- The future of research on work, safety, health and wellbeing: A guiding conceptual framework.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- Risk Factors Associated with the Prevalence of Upper and Lower Back Pain in Male Underground Coal Miners in Punjab, Pakistan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Central Sensitivity Is Associated with Poor Recovery of Pain: Prediction, Cluster, and Decision Tree Analyses.Pain research & management · 2020Article
- Development of a return to work tool for primary care providers for patients with low back pain: A pilot study.Journal of family medicine and primary careArticle
- Rehabilitation Following External Fixation for Lower Limb Trauma: A Service Evaluation Mapping the Gaps in Practice and Evidence.Strategies in trauma and limb reconstructionArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe aim of the study was to evaluate the effect on health outcomes of an early or immediate return-to-work (RTW) after acute low back pain (LBP).
methodsA longitudinal cohort of workers (N = 557) consulting for uncomplicated LBP were assessed on demographic, pain, occupational, and psychosocial variables. Pain and function were assessed at 3-month postpain onset. We tested the longitudinal effects of an early RTW on 3-month outcomes.
resultsPain and function improved more rapidly for workers with an immediate (30.7%) or early (1 to 7 days) RTW (36.8%). Eleven demographic, health, or workplace variables were identified as potential confounds, but controlling for these factors only partially attenuated the benefits of an early RTW.
conclusionsAn early RTW improves acute LBP and functional recovery, and alternate confounding explanations only partially eclipse this therapeutic effect.
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Registered trials
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