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Updated: May 30, 2026
Determining Pain Detection and Tolerance Thresholds Using an Integrated, Multi-Modal Pain Task Battery
Published on: April 14, 2016
Multi-site pain and work ability among an industrial population
S Neupane1, H Miranda, P Virtanen
1School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, FI 33014 Tampere, Finland. subas.neupane@uta.fi
Background:
Multi-site pain is a common phenomenon among working-age people and it strongly increases work disability risk. Little is known about the impact of musculoskeletal pain on work ability.
Aims:
To investigate whether the number of musculoskeletal pain sites predicts future poor work ability.
Methods:
The study was conducted in 2005 and 2009 in a food processing company. A total of 734 workers participated in the study. The information on self-perceived work ability and musculoskeletal pain during the preceding week was obtained through a structured questionnaire distributed to employees. The risk of poor work ability at follow-up related to the number of pain sites at baseline was estimated with logistic regression.
Results:
The proportion of poor work ability increased in 4 years from 15 to 22%, parallel to the increase in the number of pain sites. Among those with 'non-poor' work ability at baseline, one-tenth reported their work ability to be poor after 4 years. The number of pain sites predicted poor work ability after 4 years of follow-up with a dose-response manner. Those with widespread pain had almost a 3-fold risk of developing poor work ability at follow-up. The associations were stronger for younger and white-collar workers.
Conclusions:
The results of the present study indicate that multi-site musculoskeletal pain at baseline strongly predicts poor work ability after 4 years among industrial workers. Counting the number of concurrent pain sites may be a simple method of identifying workers with high risk of work disability in occupational health practice.
