Effects of back school education and exercise in back injured municipal workers

Low back injury is the leading cause of compensable injury. A National Health Objective for the year 2000 is to increase to at least 50% the number of worksites offering back injury protection programs. The 6 week Back School intervention included exercise and education. A portion of the sample of 74 back injured municipal employees also was assigned randomly to a counseling intervention. Pre-intervention and post-intervention testing revealed significant posttest increases in back strength and flexibility. Significant improvements also were noted in psychological well being, depression, anxiety, and perceptions of pain. No significant differences were found, on any of the measures, between employees who did and who did not receive the counseling intervention. Methodological concerns relate to the possibility of sampling bias and instrumentation. Future research with control groups is needed, as well as the testing of interventions that may be both effective and require less work release time.