[Low back pain in health personnel]

A questionnaire-based retrospective survey was conducted in a sample of 101 health professionals with history of low back pain including physicians, nurses and physiotherapists. The prevalence of low back pain in the population studied was 30.7% at the time of survey, the cumulative incidence being 70.6%. The incidence of painful episodes was highest between the ages of 40 and 50. The mean age at onset of the first and last attack of pain was 30.5 and 42.7 years, respectively. The average frequency of attack was nine occurrences over the past five years with a mean duration of nine days per attack. The mean age at highest frequency was 38.6 years. In 26.7% of the interviewers low back pain occurred at work, in 57.4% elsewhere. The most common causes of pain were inadvertent movement at work (70.3%), heavy lifting (60.4%) or heavy physical work (43.5%), while in 35.6% of subjects no clear cause could be identified. Lumbo-sciatica was reported in 33.6% of the sample, i.e. in every third subject, with a mean frequency of three occurrences over the past five years in all the subgroups studied. In the population studied the incidence of nonoccupational risk factors was twice as high as that of work-related risk factors. Physical and sports activities were identified as aggravating factors in patient with a history of low back pain in contrast to their healthy counterparts. Temporary disablement was established in 26.7% of the subjects, mainly in physicians, which was approximately half the rate normally reported in the general populations. Only one nurse had been granted reduced working hours by Medical Board decision.