Employee attitudes contribute to back pain recurrence

Shelley Hampton is a corporate fitness trainer and owner of Shape Shifters Pilates Studio.

In our national search to find someone to blame for the high prevalence and extreme costs of treating lower back problems, Americans have singled out the workplace.

The evidence that overuse or repetitive motion contributes to the problem is certain and unmistakable.

The American Council on Exercise calls overuse the single most important cause of injury in general.

However, repetitive motion, overuse and faulty workstations do not tell the whole story. All employees do not suffer equal injury from overuse and repetitive motion work.

Why do a select few have problems?

Cultural, lifestyle, wellness and attitudinal issues complicate the equation.

Although the very treatments modern health care recommends rest, surgery, and medication often make the problem worse, employee attitudes clearly play a significant role.

This complex set of attitude-based deterrents to healing can be grouped together as abnormal illness behaviors in the patient. These include:

magnification of symptoms;

catastrophizing (assuming that any situation will have the worst possible outcome);

dependency upon treatment;

psychological issues including depression, anxiety and grief;

pain avoidance behavior; and

dependency on substances including nicotine and alcohol.

These topics have filled volumes, and their treatment is beyond my scope here. However, human resource and benefits managers can help employees improve their attitudes through a wide variety of psychological interventions including support groups, affirmations, self-study, 12-step programs and forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Anatomically speaking, all people are not created equal.

Hand size, bone lengths, muscle content, movement patterns and joint structure all vary. Patterns of self-care and lifestyle choices play an equally important role.

Many Americans have chosen a deconditioned body as part of their lifestyle, which has physical and emotional consequences.

One cannot overstate the emotional impact of deconditioning.

Living in a body that is short of breath, feels heavy and sluggish and finds no ease or comfort in movement creates a tremendously stressful situation.

"The first prerequisite for happiness is physical fitness," said Joseph Pilates, founder of a popular approach to restoring and maintaining conditioning.

Fortunately, even in an impaired state of health, improving conditioning and lifestyle can improve one's emotional state.

My friend Pat, a business owner who suffered a stroke five years ago, takes three short walks every day, followed by a long walk.

She maintains many friendships, social activities and eats carefully with nutrition in mind.

"If I don't keep moving, I'll stop moving," she says, explaining her lifestyle choices. "But more importantly, it keeps me from being cranky."

The final article in this series will run in the Dec. 8 Health and Wellness issue, detailing effective back safety programs in the workplace.