Low-back pain

Low-back pain is a common disorder involving the muscles, nerves and bones of the back. Pain can vary from a dull constant ache to a sudden sharp feeling. Low-back pain is usually classified by duration as acute (pain lasting less than six weeks), sub-chronic (six to 12 weeks) or chronic (more than 12 weeks). IWH research looks at the occupational risk factors for back pain, how to treat and manage it, and prognostic factors related to recovery and return to work.

Featured

A man sitting on a couch holds his shoulder in pain
At Work article

IWH study finds 7 in 10 injured workers still experience pain more than a year after injury

A high proportion of injured workers in Ontario experience persistent pain for well over a year after their work-related injury. According to an IWH study of workers' compensation lost-time claimants, 70 per cent of workers experience pain 18 months after their work injury.
Published: September 30, 2022
Journal article
Journal article

Systematic review of prognostic factors for return to work in workers with sub acute and chronic low back pain

Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, September 2017
Journal article
The Guardian logo
IWH in the media

Epidemic of untreatable back an neck pain costs billions, study finds

Costing the US alone $88bn a year, low back and neck pain is widespread and expensive. Dr. Andrea Furlan of the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and Cochrane Back and Neck discusses treatment options that are recommended, as well as some that aren't.
Published: The Guardian, February 2017
Consumer Reports logo
IWH in the media

Should you try massage for back pain?

How does a rubdown compare with physical therapy and acupuncture for treating back pain? Institute for Work & Health's Dr. Andrea Furlan comments on the research evidence.
Published: Consumer Reports, July 2016
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series

Returning to work following low-back pain: Do prognostic factors differ for acute, subacute and chronic pain?

How long does it take for someone with low-back pain to recover enough to return to work? That's a question often asked by the worker, the employer, and the workers' compensation agency alike. In this plenary, Dr. Ivan Steenstra shares prognostic factors for subacute and chronic low-back pain and compares them with prognostic factors for acute pain. He also discusses how stakeholders use prognostic information, and how their understanding of prognostic factors compares to his own findings.
Published: November 2014
At Work article
At Work article

Building an understanding of back pain, a common but poorly understood condition

The Cochrane Back Review Group, hosted at IWH, celebrates 15 years of synthesizing and assessing research on neck and back pain
Published: November 2013
A woman grimaces while holding her back
Research Highlights

Development of a brief psychosocial screening instrument for people with low-back pain

The Pain Recovery Inventory of Concerns and Expectations (PRICE), is a psychosocial screening questionnaire for workers with low-back pain that can estimate the overall likelihood of quickly recovering and returning to work within three months after injury.
Published: January 2013
Top down view of man walking up spiral staircase
Sharing Best Evidence

Factors affecting RTW following acute low-back pain

This systematic review set out to find what factors affect the length of time it takes before returning to work. The aim was to identify which workers with acute low-back pain are at high risk of long-term absences and, therefore, in need of extra attention to help them recover and return to work more quickly.
Published: May 2012
Systematic Review
Systematic Review

Systematic review of prognostic factors for workers' time away from work due to acute low-back pain: an update

This report explores the factors that affect how long it will take workers to return to work following an absence due to acute low-back pain, based upon the results of a systematic review update conducted by the Institute for Work & Health.
Published: August 2011