COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sep 24, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Researchers in Denmark
suggest the fear of getting back pain from nursing or caring for the elderly is
predictive of actually developing back pain.
Jette Nygaard Jensen and colleagues at the National Research Centre for the
Working Environment in Copenhagen, Denmark, say fear-avoidance beliefs involve
avoiding physical activities that are expected to cause pain -- although
ironically these beliefs are often associated with developing chronic pain.
More than 2,600 female healthcare workers were given questionnaires that
measured both fear-avoidance beliefs about work and fear-avoidance beliefs about
physical activity.
For those who had a previous history of lower back pain, both workload and
fear-avoidance beliefs played a part in new episodes of lower back pain.
The study, published in the journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, said, in
general, a greater workload was associated with more lower back pain, and
workload had a greater role to play than fear-avoidance beliefs.
"Healthcare professionals may benefit from additional education or information
about how to cope with acute or chronic lower back pain," Jensen said in a
statement. "Particularly information about the potentially harmful effect of
avoidance-behavior could be useful."
Rather than avoiding physical activity, medical guidelines based on lower back
pain research recommend staying active and continuing normal daily life,
including going to work, Jensen adds.
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