1985 Volvo Award in Clinical Sciences: Objective Assessment of Spine Function Following Industrial Injury

TLDR

The study aimed to assess whether objective functional capacity measurements could guide treatment for chronic back‑pain patients. Sixty‑six chronic back‑pain patients received a treatment program guided by objective functional capacity measures, while 38 patients served as untreated controls; outcomes were collected via telephone survey at about one year, with functional capacity assessed at admission and follow‑up. Approximately 80% of treated patients improved in functional capacity, experienced positive psychological changes, and were twice as likely to return to work at one year, with comparable surgery rates but fewer additional health‑care visits than controls.

Abstract

Objective functional capacity measurement techniques were used to guide a treatment program for a group of 66 chronic back pain patients. These patients were compared with a group of 38 chronic patients who were not administered the treatment program. Outcome data were collected by telephone survey at an average 1 year follow-up. In addition, functional capacity measures were collected for treatment group patients on admission and follow-up evaluations. Results demonstrated that the functional capacity measures collected for the treatment group improved in approximately 80% of the patients. These changes were also accompanied by positive changes in psychologic measures. In addition, at 1 year follow-up, the treatment group had approximately twice the rate of patients who returned to work, relative to the comparison group. Additional surgery rates were comparable for both groups (6% in the treatment and 7% in the comparison group), but the frequency of additional health-care professional visits was substantially higher in the comparison group. The findings suggest that quantitative functional capacity measures can give objective evidence of patient physical abilities and degree of effort and can significantly guide the clinician in administering an effective treatment program