Return-to-Work Within a Complex and Dynamic Organizational Work Disability System.

Background Return-to-work (RTW) within a complex organizational system can be associated with suboptimal outcomes. Purpose To apply a sociotechnical systems perspective to investigate complexity in RTW; to utilize system dynamics modeling (SDM) to examine how feedback relationships between individual, psychosocial, and organizational factors make up the work disability system and influence RTW. Methods SDMs were developed within two companies.

Can postural instability tests improve the prediction of future falls in people with Parkinson's disease beyond knowing existing fall history?

This study sought to determine whether the backward-stepping Push and Release (P&R) Test and the Pull Test, or comprehensive batteries of postural instability (the Mini-BESTest and Brief-BESTest), significantly improve the prediction of future falls beyond knowing a person's baseline fall history. Complete data were available for 43 of 80 participants with PD. At baseline, participants completed the BESTest (which was scored for all versions and includes the P&R Test), the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor section (which includes the Pull Test), and the participants' reported falls experienced in the previous 6 months.

Length of Disability and Medical Costs in Low Back Pain: Do State Workers' Compensation Policies Make a Difference?

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine the impact of state workers' compensation (WC) policies regarding wage replacement and medical benefits on medical costs and length of disability (LOD) in workers with low back pain (LBP).

Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of LBP claims from 49 states (n = 59,360) filed between 2002 and 2008, extracted from a large WC administrative database.

Results: Longer retroactive periods and state WC laws allowing treating provider choice were associated with higher medical costs and longer LOD.

Lag Times in Reporting Injuries, Receiving Medical Care, and Missing Work: Associations With the Length of Work Disability in Occupational Back Injuries.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the associations between lag times following occupational low back injury and the length of work disability.

Methods: In a retrospective cohort study using workers' compensation claims, random effects Tobit models were used to explore how disability length relates to three lag times: the number of days from the date of injury to reporting the injury, the number of days from the date of injury to medical care, and the number of days from the date of injury to initiating work disability.

Results: In general, shorter lag times for each of the different lags were related to shorter lengths of disability.

Implications of sit-stand and active workstations to counteract the adverse effects of sedentary work: A comprehensive review.

Background: Sedentary work is associated with many adverse health outcomes, and sit-stand workstations in offices have emerged as a way to counteract sedentary work.

Objective: This paper reviews the existing knowledge on sit-stand workstations, treadmill workstations and bicycle workstations.

Methods: The inclusion/exclusion criteria were: 1) empirical research examining the effectiveness of sit-stand workstations in lab or field studies, 2) working adult population, 3) sit-stand workstation interventions where workers performed the same task from a seated or standing position, 4) outcomes measures of discomfort (comfort), performance, sit-stand behaviors, user satisfaction, kinematic and physiological measures.

Prospective gait changes as a function of shifting perceptions of slipperiness: effects of visual and somatosensory cues.

Forty participants, ages 18-45 years, rated perceived slipperiness before and after walking on five different floors under three different surface conditions. The before-ratings were taken as a proxy for visual cues to slipperiness, while after-ratings were taken as a proxy for somatosensory feedback received while walking on the surface. Before and after ratings of slipperiness were used to predict gait parameters, as a function of trial, during repeated walking.

Association Between Sedentary Work and BMI in a U.S. National Longitudinal Survey.

Introduction: Technological advancements have made life and work more sedentary, and long hours of sitting are known to be associated with many health concerns. Several studies have reported an association between prolonged sitting time at work and weight gain, but the results are inconsistent. This study examined the relationship between sitting time at work and BMI using data from a large prospective cohort of U.

A Stakeholder-Based System Dynamics Model of Return-to-Work: A Research Protocol.

Background: Returning to work following a job-related injury or illness can be a complex process, influenced by a range of interrelated personal, psychosocial, and organizational components. System dynamics modelling (SDM) takes a sociotechnical systems perspective to view return-to-work (RTW) as a system made up of multiple feedback relationships between influential components.

Design And Methods: To build the RTW SDM, a mixed-method approach will be used.

A practical tool for public health surveillance: Semi-automated coding of short injury narratives from large administrative databases using Naïve Bayes algorithms.

Public health surveillance programs in the U.S. are undergoing landmark changes with the availability of electronic health records and advancements in information technology.

Lower limb flexion posture relates to energy absorption during drop landings with soldier-relevant body borne loads.

Fifteen military personnel performed 30-cm drop landings to quantify how body borne load (light, ∼6 kg, medium, ∼20 kg, and heavy, ∼40 kg) impacts lower limb kinematics and knee joint energy absorption during landing, and determine whether greater lower limb flexion increases energy absorption while landing with load. Participants decreased peak hip (P = 0.002), and knee flexion (P = 0.

Effects of culture (China vs. US) and task on perceived hazard: Evidence from product ratings, label ratings, and product to label matching.

In the current study, 44 Chinese and 40 US college students rated their perceived hazard in response to warning labels and products and attempted to match products with warning labels communicating the same level of hazard. Chinese participants tended to provide lower ratings of hazard in response to labels, but hazard perceived in response to products did not significantly differ as a function of culture. When asked to match a product with a warning label, Chinese participants' hazard perceptions appeared to be better calibrated, than did US participants', across products and labels.

Evaluation of older driver head functional range of motion using portable immersive virtual reality.

Background: The number of drivers over 65 years of age continues to increase. Although neck rotation range has been identified as a factor associated with self-reported crash history in older drivers, it was not consistently reported as indicators of older driver performance or crashes across previous studies. It is likely that drivers use neck and trunk rotation when driving, and therefore the functional range of motion (ROM) (i.

Geographic Variation in Early MRI for Acute Work-Related Low Back Pain and Associated Factors.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study using medical claims data.

Objective: To document the extent of geographic variation in utilization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for working-age patients early in the course of acute, disabling low back pain (LBP); to identify potential factors associated with the most extreme variations.

Summary Of Background Data: Although guidelines discourage MRI in acute uncomplicated LBP, this practice is highly prevalent.

Firearm Prevalence and Homicides of Law Enforcement Officers in the United States.

Objectives: In the United States, state firearm ownership has been correlated with homicide rates. More than 90% of homicides of law enforcement officers (LEOs) are committed with firearms. We examined the relationship between state firearm ownership rates and LEO occupational homicide rates.

Evaluation of regression-based 3-D shoulder rhythms.

The movements of the humerus, the clavicle, and the scapula are not completely independent. The coupled pattern of movement of these bones is called the shoulder rhythm. To date, multiple studies have focused on providing regression-based 3-D shoulder rhythms, in which the orientations of the clavicle and the scapula are estimated by the orientation of the humerus.

Examining the Relationship Between Productivity Loss Trajectories and Work Disability Outcomes Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Objective: To identify trajectories of productivity loss and examine the relationship between the trajectories and work disability outcomes.

Methods: Latent class growth analysis of productivity loss was estimated for the ages of 25 to 44 years in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (N = 4960). Differences among the trajectories for work disability outcomes for the ages of 25 to 64 years were estimated using logistic regression and analysis of variance.

Leisure-Time Physical Activity, Falls, and Fall Injuries in Middle-Aged Adults.

Introduction: Although exercise and strength training have been shown to be protective against falls in older adults (aged 65 years and older), evidence for the role of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in the prevention of falls and resulting injuries in middle-aged adults (aged 45-64 years) is lacking. In the present study, we investigate the association between self-reported engagement in LTPA and the frequency of falls and fall-related injuries among middle-aged and older adults, while controlling for key sociodemographic and health characteristics.

Methods: Nationally representative data from the 2010 U.

Factors Important for Work Participation Among Older Workers with Depression, Cardiovascular Disease, and Osteoarthritis: A Mixed Method Study.

Purpose The aim of this study was to gain insight into differences and similarities in factors important for work participation in older (58-65 years) workers among three different chronic diseases: depression (D), cardiovascular disease (C), and osteoarthritis (O). Methods A mixed method design was used, with a qualitative part (in-depth interviews) with 14 patients with D, C or O and a quantitative part based on the 2002-2003 cohort of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. We analysed and compared 3-year (response 93 %) predictors of paid work in 239 participants with D, C, or O using regression analyses.

Early Workplace Communication and Problem Solving to Prevent Back Disability: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial Among High-Risk Workers and Their Supervisors.

Purpose There is a clear need for interventions that successfully prevent the development of disability due to back pain. We hypothesized that an intervention aimed at both the worker and the workplace could be effective. Hence, we tested the effects of a new early intervention, based on the misdirected problem solving model, aimed at both workers at risk of long-term impairments and their workplace.

Normative data on the one-handed static pull strength of a Chinese population and a comparison with American data.

We assess the one-handed static pull strength of a Chinese population and compare it to that of an American sample. Fifty men and 50 women in five age groups were asked to exert their maximum one-handed pull strength in three pulling directions (across, front and side) and from four pulling heights (61 cm, 76 cm, waist height and above-shoulder height). The results showed that women had less pull strength than men under all of the conditions tested.

Age-related differences in inter-joint coordination during stair walking transitions.

Stair negotiation is one of the most difficult and hazardous locomotor tasks for older adults with fall-related accidences reported frequently. Since knowledge about inter-joint coordination during stair walking provides insights to age-related changes in neuromuscular control of gait that can inform prevention or intervention strategies, the current study investigated the effect of age on the pattern and variability of inter-joint coordination during stair-floor transitions during gait. Gait and motion analyses of the lower extremities of 20 young and 20 older adults during floor to stair (F-S) and stair to floor (S-F) walking transitions provided continuous measures of relative phase (CRP) that assessed inter-joint coordination of the hip, knee, and angle joints.

Exploring the relationship between age and tenure with length of disability.

Background: The aging of the workforce, coupled with the changing nature of career tenure has raised questions about the impact of these trends on work disability. This study aimed to determine if age and tenure interact in relating to work disability duration.

Methods: Relationships were investigated using random effects models with 239,359 work disability claims occurring between 2008 and 2012.

Accuracy of the Microsoft Kinect for measuring gait parameters during treadmill walking.

The measurement of gait parameters normally requires motion tracking systems combined with force plates, which limits the measurement to laboratory settings. In some recent studies, the possibility of using the portable, low cost, and marker-less Microsoft Kinect sensor to measure gait parameters on over-ground walking has been examined. The current study further examined the accuracy level of the Kinect sensor for assessment of various gait parameters during treadmill walking under different walking speeds.

Sequential in-vehicle glance distributions: an alternative approach for analyzing glance data.

Objective: The aim of this study was to illustrate how a consideration of glance sequences to in-vehicle tasks and their associated distributions can be informative.

Background: The rapid growth in the number of nomadic technologies and in-vehicle devices has the potential to create complex, visually intensive tasks for drivers that may incur long in-vehicle glances. Such glances place drivers at increased risk of a motor vehicle crash.

Developing a job-exposure matrix with exposure uncertainty from expert elicitation and data modeling.

Job exposure matrices (JEMs) are tools used to classify exposures for job titles based on general job tasks in the absence of individual level data. However, exposure uncertainty due to variations in worker practices, job conditions, and the quality of data has never been quantified systematically in a JEM. We describe a methodology for creating a JEM which defines occupational exposures on a continuous scale and utilizes elicitation methods to quantify exposure uncertainty by assigning exposures probability distributions with parameters determined through expert involvement.