The effectiveness of exercise on recovery and clinical outcomes of soft tissue injuries of the leg, ankle, and foot: A systematic review by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.

Introduction: Soft tissue injuries of the leg, ankle, or foot are common and often treated by exercise. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of exercise for the management of soft tissue injuries of the leg, ankle, or foot.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted.

Is multimodal care effective for the management of patients with whiplash-associated disorders or neck pain and associated disorders? A systematic review by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.

Background Context: Little is known about the effectiveness of multimodal care for individuals with whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) and neck pain and associated disorders (NAD).

Purpose: To update findings of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders and evaluate the effectiveness of multimodal care for the management of patients with WAD or NAD.

Study Design/setting: Systematic review and best-evidence synthesis.

Does structured patient education improve the recovery and clinical outcomes of patients with neck pain? A systematic review from the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.

Background Context: In 2008, the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders recommended patient education for the management of neck pain. However, the effectiveness of education interventions has recently been challenged.

Purpose: To update the findings of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders and evaluate the effectiveness of structured patient education for the management of patients with whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) or neck pain and associated disorders (NAD).

An efficient strategy allowed English-speaking reviewers to identify foreign-language articles eligible for a systematic review.

Objective: To assess English-speaking reviewers' accuracy in determining the eligibility of foreign-language articles for a systematic review.

Study Design And Settings: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials of therapy for fibromyalgia. Guided by 10 questions, English-speaking reviewers screened non-English-language articles for eligibility.

Is exercise effective for the management of neck pain and associated disorders or whiplash-associated disorders? A systematic review by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration.

Background Context: In 2008, the Neck Pain Task Force (NPTF) recommended exercise for the management of neck pain and whiplash-associated disorders (WAD). However, no evidence was available on the effectiveness of exercise for Grade III neck pain or WAD. Moreover, limited evidence was available to contrast the effectiveness of various types of exercises.

Survey-based analysis of risk factors for injury among dogs participating in agility training and competition events.

Objective: To identify potential risk factors for agility-related injuries among dogs.

Design: Internet-based, retrospective, cross-sectional survey.

Animals: 3,801 privately owned dogs participating in agility training or trials.

Internet-based survey of the nature and perceived causes of injury to dogs participating in agility training and competition events.

Objective: To characterize injuries (on the basis of type and severity of injury and affected region of the body) among dogs participating in agility training and competition events and examine associations between injury characteristics and perceived causes of injury.

Design: Internet-based, retrospective, cross-sectional survey.

Animals: 3,801 privately owned dogs participating in agility training or trials.

Mortality following unemployment in Canada, 1991-2001.

Background: This study describes the association between unemployment and cause-specific mortality for a cohort of working-age Canadians.

Methods: We conducted a cohort study over an 11-year period among a broadly representative 15% sample of the non-institutionalized population of Canada aged 30-69 at cohort inception in 1991 (888,000 men and 711,600 women who were occupationally active). We used cox proportional hazard models, for six cause of death categories, two consecutive multi-year periods and four age groups, to estimate mortality hazard ratios comparing unemployed to employed men and women.

Examining changes in reported work conditions in Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan between 1994 and 2003-05.

Objectives: To examine changes in work hours, work schedules, the psychosocial work environment and job satisfaction in three Canadian provinces between 1994 and 2003-05.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 46,998 respondents over four cross-sectional surveys: 1994, 2000 and 2003/05 in Quebec, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Using regression models, we examined trends in work conditions across survey cycles both unadjusted, and after adjustment for differences in age, education, gender, immigration, and method of interview.

Examining the decline in lost-time claim rates across age groups in Ontario between 1991 and 2007.

Objectives: Given the tendency for young people to show elevated work injury rates, this study sought to examine trends in young worker and adult compensation claim rates in a Canadian province.

Methods: Workers' compensation records and labour force survey data from 1991 to 2007 were used to compute claim rates by age group. To examine the contribution of work-related factors to claim rates by age group, multivariate analyses included industry and job tenure.

Trends in the health care use and expenditures associated with no-lost-time claims in Ontario: 1991 to 2006.

Objective: To examine trends in health care usage and expenditures associated with no-lost-time claims in Ontario over a 15-year period.

Methods: A secondary analysis of administrative workers' compensation claims occurring between 1991 and 2006 (N = 2,290,101). We used regression analysis to model health care expenditures using a zero-inflated linear model, adjusting for age, gender, industry group and size of payroll.

Research opportunities using administrative databases and existing surveys for new knowledge in occupational health and safety in Canada, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.

In Canada, many datasets are initially collected for purposes other than occupational health and safety (OHS) research. These include administrative health care billing records, pharmaceutical records, vital statistics, provincial cancer registries and workers' compensation claims data. In addition, many national and provincial health surveys, while not focused specifically on occupational health and safety, collect data on the health status and health determinants of populations, and such data can be used for investigating OHS issues among Canadian workers.

Measurement properties of occupational health and safety management audits: a systematic literature search and traditional literature synthesis.

Objective: The measurement properties of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management audits might be important in some applications, especially when audit scores are treated as performance measures. The review, therefore, sought to identify and summarize the research evidence on the measurement properties (e.g.

Regions, hospitals and health outcomes over time: A multi-level analysis of repeat prevalence among a cohort of health-care workers.

Background: The relative importance of region, workplace, and individual determinants of health burden is debated.

Objective: To model the contribution of hospital characteristics to employee mental and musculoskeletal disorders.

Methods: We linked employment records of nurses and support services' staff with health records, neighbourhood census, and hospital administrative data.

Comparing the risk of work-related injuries between immigrants to Canada and Canadian-born labour market participants.

Objectives: To examine the burden of work-related injuries among immigrants to Canada compared to Canadian-born labour force participants.

Methods: Using data from the 2003 and 2005 Canadian Community Health Surveys (n = 99,115), two nationally representative population samples, we examined the risk of self-reported, activity limiting work-related injuries among immigrants with varying time periods since arrival in Canada. Models were adjusted for hours of work in the last 12 months as well as various demographic and work-related variables.

Educational status and work injury among young people: refining the targeting of prevention resources.

Objectives: To examine the risk of work injuries among young workers out of school compared to those working while still in school.

Methods: The 12,506 fifteen to twenty-four year old workers were part of a national survey that used a multi-staged, stratified sampling procedure. Respondents were divided into four groups based on current school activity (i.

Measuring change in psychosocial working conditions: methodological issues to consider when data are collected at baseline and one follow-up time point.

If policy makers and employers are to take health issues into account when making decisions that will impact on work practices and work environments, they will need accurate information concerning the impact change in psychosocial working conditions has on health status. Although research is increasing in this area, a variety of different methods have been used to define when change in work conditions has occurred. The present paper considers various issues related to the accurate assessment of change in psychosocial working conditions, focusing on research designs that involve the collection of data at baseline and a single follow-up time point.

Time allocation between work and recreation and the associated injury risks among young people.

Problem: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between overall risk of injury and time use patterns between work and active recreation among adolescents and young adults.

Methods: Using a representative sample of 9,795 Canadians aged 15-24 years, a multivariate logistic regression on the likelihood of any medically attended injury was conducted, including sociodemographic, individual, and time factors.

Results: Young people who engaged in a combination of high work and high activity hours were twice as likely to sustain a medically attended injury compared to those who worked low hours, but did not participate in any recreational activity.

Workplace injury or "part of the job"?: towards a gendered understanding of injuries and complaints among young workers.

Epidemiological studies have found that teenage workers have higher occupational injury rates than adult workers, and that young males are a particularly high-risk subgroup. However, there have been few studies to date that have explored qualitatively young workers' everyday understandings and experiences of occupational health risks. Based on focus groups conducted with Canadian urban and suburban teenagers aged 16-18 years, this paper explores young workers' understandings and experiences of occupational health risks, and their gendered nature.

Practice and potential of economic evaluation of workplace-based interventions for occupational health and safety.

Background: We review economic analyses in studies of workplace-based occupational health and safety interventions in order to report on evidence of their financial merits and assess the quality of application of economic evaluation methodologies. The focus of the review is interventions applicable to an office setting.

Materials And Methods: We draw on several systematic reviews to identify studies that consider both the costs and consequences of an intervention, or simply the consequences in monetary terms.

Predictors of work-related repetitive strain injuries in a population cohort.

Objectives: We assessed predictors of work-related repetitive strain injuries using data from 4 waves of the Canadian National Population Health Survey.

Methods: Participants were 2806 working adults who completed an abbreviated version of the Job Content Questionnaire in 1994-1995 and did not experience repetitive strain injuries prior to 2000-2001. Potential previous wave predictors of work-related repetitive strain injuries were modeled via multivariate logistic regression.

Examining the associations between physical work demands and work injury rates between men and women in Ontario, 1990-2000.

Aims: To describe the decline in injury rates between 1990 and 2000 within occupations stratified across three levels of physical demands and gender, adjusting for industry, in Canada's largest province.

Methods: Records of injury compensation claims were obtained from the Ontario Workplace Safety & Insurance Board. The population likely to be insured by the Ontario Workplace Safety & Insurance Board was estimated from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey.

Individual factors and musculoskeletal disorders: a framework for their consideration.

Individual factors have been variously defined as non-work, demographic, physiological or psychological factors. They may represent a variety of important constructs at different relevant levels that may not be initially evident in their measurement. These include: work-related factors e.

Is position in the occupational hierarchy a determinant of decline in perceived health status?

This study examines the extent to which position in the occupational hierarchy is predictive of declines in perceived health status over a 48 month period in a representative sample of the Canadian labor force. We hypothesized that the proportion of workers reporting a decline in health status would be greater among persons in lower position in the occupational hierarchy, and that these differences in risk would primarily be explained by characteristics of the psychosocial work environment and secondarily by the baseline prevalence of adverse health behaviors. The study cohort was defined as labor force participants aged 18-64 who reported good, very good or excellent health in the 1994 baseline wave of Canada's National Population Health Survey and who participated in the 1998 follow-up survey.

Part-time work and cigarette use among teenagers. Does age moderate this relationship?

Objectives: Previous studies on part-time work and substance use suggest that those teenagers working longer hours during the school year use cigarettes more frequently than those working less or not at all. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether age moderates the relationship between part-time work hours and smoking status.

Methods: This 1999 study consisted of a cross-sectional survey of 4,297 junior high and high school students aged 13 to 19 from 111 randomly selected schools in Ontario.