I provided feedback to a colleague in the US who is making submissions to OSHA regarding the addition of MSI’s in their statistical reports (Duh where have you been?)
One of the subcategories is proposed to be Back Pain. As you know I am author of the recently released CLV Special Report with Carswell.com entitled Understanding, Preventing and Controlling Back and Neck Pain” ISBN 978-07798-2880-7 and have been a Physiotherapist for 25 years. My suggestion to OSHA and to the Ministry of Labour and WSIB in Ontario for that matter is as follows;
“Instead of back pain why not use the most common clinical term used by Orthopods and Physiotherapists; ‘Mechanical Low Back Injury or MLBI’. This is a general term which accounts for approximately 80-90% (stats vary with each treatment centres statistical methods and diagnostic techniques used) of all low back pain that people experience from day to day including facet joint strain, discogenic injury with no nerve root involvement and the day to day sprains which occur.
This clarity in wording by OSHA and Ontario’s Ministry of Labour will also force clinicians to define these conditions in a better way which in turn will benefit prevention thru ergonomic design and improved treatment outcomes for patients.
David can you influence OSHA on this one as these bodies tend to not use good diagnostic terms for these”
JE Sleeth OPC Inc