A systematic review of workplace interventions to prevent low back pain
Open accessAbstract
A systematic review of randomised controlled trials was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of workplace interventions to prevent low back pain. Potential trials were located by a computerised search supplemented with citation tracking. The methodological quality of the trials was assessed on 11 criteria and the level of evidence for each intervention was determined, based upon the amount, consistency and quality of evidence from the trials. The review located 13 trials that were generally of moderate quality. The trials suggest that work place exercise is effective, braces and education are ineffective, and workplace modification plus education is of unknown value in preventing low back pain.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Four of the six included articles were of good quality and two were of fair quality on the PEDro scale.
“Four of the articles included in this systematic review are of good quality and two of the articles are of fair quality [18,19].”
From Comparison of dry needling and trigger point manual therapy in patients with neck and upper back myofascial pain syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [18]
The Methodological quality and outcome of the studies section (page unavailable) says Maher's review included 13 studies, not six. The Assessment of methodological quality section says it used the PEDro scale, but does not report a four-good, two-fair breakdown. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 44 · Cited by 196
Research works printed but not linked: 3
- Hjelm W and Hagberg M (1992): Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders in nursing aides. A randomized study of physical training. Proceedings of International Scientific Conference on Prevention of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders. Premus, Sweden: Arbets Milio Institutet.
- Moseley A, Sherrington C, Herbert R and Maher C (1999): Reliability of a scale for measuring the methodological quality of clinical trials. Proceedings of the Cochrane Colloquium. Rome, October.
- Tuchin P and Pollard H (1998): The cost-effectiveness of spinal care education as a preventive strategy for spinal injury. Journal of Occupational Health and Safety - Australia New Zealand 14: 43-51.
- Authors
- Maher, C. G.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Maher, Christopher G
- ORCID
- Maher, Christopher G
- Venue
- Australian Journal of Physiotherapy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2000
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 259-269
- ISSN
- 0004-9514 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2114776006
- Cited by
- 196
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 0.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Australian Journal of Physiotherapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Keywords
- low back pain, workplace interventions, low back pain prevention, workplace exercise, back brace, patient education, workplace modification, intervention effectiveness
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
