Work injuries among therapists in physical rehabilitation

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brusola G ; Burnfield JM ; Chernyavskiy P ; Darragh AR ; Irons SL ; Link AM ; McCrory B ; Meza JL
• Description:
  Background: Physical therapists in rehabilitation settings often perform heavy lifting, repetitive forceful tasks and endure long periods of static or awkward postures. These work conditions put therapists at increased risk of work-related injuries (WRIs). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) at 14 randomly selected rehabilitation facilities to determine the prevalence and severity of work-related injuries in physical rehabilitation. Results: A majority of respondents reported their most severe pain or discomfort within the last year affected their back, lasted 24 hours to 1 week, occurred once every 2-6 months, and was rated as moderate on the 0 to 10 pain scale. The 1-year prevalence of WRIs among PTs and PTAs working in physical rehabilitation was 32%. Sixty percent (60%) of those reporting pain/discomfort had mechanical patient lifts available within their work area. Less than half reported using mechanical patient lifts before or during/after their work-related pain. Conclusion: More than 65% of rehabilitation PTs and PTAs experienced work-related pain due to therapeutic activities including patient handling and movement. It is critical to understand therapists' technology usage barriers, redesign technology to meet end-user needs, and develop technology-based best practices that promote both worker safety and patient outcomes. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Engineering Ergonomics Health Personnel Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Back-injuries Behavior-patterns Engineering-controls Equipment-design Equipment-operators Health-care-personnel Injury-prevention Manual-lifting Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Physical-therapy Posture

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• ISSN:
  1071-1813
• Publisher:
  Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Iowa ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  58
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045616
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 58th Annual Meeting, October 27-31, 2014, Chicago, Illinois. Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2014 Sep; 58:1072-1076
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 58th Annual Meeting, October 27-31, 2014, Chicago, Illinois
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fb4bf4a26397b787b0b473f048a5c6d0cef7bbfe54455cf86e7fad362a809fde02831cf88a1aa69e05934a8355d403402c53bfce0055813d3be44a4dddb3c90c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200969/cdc_200969_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 983.98 KB ]