Preventing back pain

doi:10.1136/bmj.39464.656007.80

From trainee to consultant, BMJ Group offers doctors around the world tailored information, special events, learning resources and recruitment services at every step along their career path.

... by doctors, for doctors, for patients
We are open for entries!

Online learning

BMJ Learning

High-quality CME / CPD for doctors and other healthcare professionals. BMJ Learning features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats. Find out more

Courses and Qualifications

BMJ Masterclasses

BMJ Masterclasses, led by experts, help clinicians to use the latest evidence and recent guidelines in practice and meet their CPD/CME requirements. Find out more

Exam Preparation

The leading provider of online exam preparation, helping over 167,000 healthcare professionals to pass their exams. Find out more

onExamination

Search all BMJ comment articles:

From

Limit by

Our online table of contents is updated at least twice each day. Read all articles published in the last 7 days.
Keep up to date with cardiology: Access the latest cardiovascular medicine resources from across BMJ Group.
The BMJ iPad app brings you the best of print and online, including live links to the latest news, blogs, video, and podcasts. Get the BMJ iPad app.
OPEN ACCESS: All research articles are freely available online, with no word limit. Find out more about the BMJ's open access policy. Submit your paper.
Countdown to London 2012: BMJ Group's Olympics portal highlights latest Olympics and sports medicine-themed research, comment and learning

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

Niels Wedderkopp, associate professor1,
Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde, professor2

¹Back Research Centre, Back Centre Funen, Funen Hospital, 5750 Ringe, Denmark
²Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Faculty of Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5230 Odense M, Denmark

nwedderkopp@health.sdu.dk

Advice to stay active may not be appropriate for people in manual jobs

Every month, back pain affects 18-45% of the adult Western population,1 and the costs to society are between €200 (£150; $290) and €400 per capita per year.2 People who do heavy physical work are particularly susceptible because back problems are likely to be exacerbated when the back is used in its full range of movements.

In the accompanying paper, Martimo and colleagues report a systematic review of the prevention of back pain in people whose jobs involve heavy lifting.3None of the randomised controlled trials or cohort studies included in the reviewfound …