A nation-wide pilot project for early rehabilitation of low back pain workers

As a result of both a political and a scientific thinking, the Belgian Fund for Occupational Diseases (FOD) has launched, starting March 1st 2005, a pilot project for the nursing staff in the health care sector in order to prevent the transition of low back pain (LBP) to chronicity through a program promoting an early return to work. Target workers are those being off work due to LBP for at least 4 weeks and maximum 3 months. The program involves a standardised multidisciplinary back rehabilitation program on the one hand, and on the other hand an ergonomics intervention in the health care institution. Depending on the context, the workplace intervention may involve an ergonomic analysis with the participation of the sicklisted worker, a larger group-based ergonomics redesign, or temporary change in the worker duty or work time in order to facilitate his/her return to work. The employer gets a financial incentive from the FOD when he agrees to such an intervention. Due to a lack of communication among the target population, this pilot project has had a slow start; the presentation gives a qualitative overview of the first 100 cases having entered the program.