Unhappy workers have back pain

Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 10:30 in Health & Medicine

The research suggests that a positive attitude in the workplace can have a positive impact on lower back pain. Image: Yuri_Arcurs/iStockphoto An international researcher based in Perth has found that workers who resign themselves to work in unsatisfactory jobs are more likely to suffer from serious, persistent lower back pain than others with a positive attitude. Research Associate Professor Markus Melloh, an orthopaedic surgeon and rheumatologist with the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) and The University of Western Australia, found that a third of people studied with niggling non-specific back pain went on to develop everyday back pain that severely affected their career and social lives.Although the workers required extended sick leave and went to their doctors complaining of pain, only a few had suffered a physical change such as a slipped disc.  Anatomical tests showed no reasons for their ongoing daily problems with pain."Everybody has occasional lower back or...

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