The effectiveness of ergonomic workplace interventions on low back pain and neck pain; a systematic review

摘要

Both low back pain (LBP) and neck pain (NP) are major occupational health problems with considerable consequences for workers, employers, and society. Ergonomic interventions (physical and organisational) aim to prevent or reduce LBP and NP among workers. We conducted a systematic review of these RCTs. The databases of Pubmed, EMBASE, PsychINFO, CENTRAL, and the Cochrane Occupational Health Field were checked from September 1988 to September 2008. Two reviewers independently screened 3067 abstracts and assessed the risk of bias of 10 RCTs that met the inclusion criteria. Subsequently, data were extracted, and a meta-analysis was performed. Levels of evidence were classified using the GRADE system. Seven RCTs had a low risk and three a high risk of bias. The results showed low to moderate quality evidence that physical and organisational ergonomic interventions were not more effective than no ergonomic intervention on short and long term LBP and NP incidence/prevalence, short and long term LBP intensity, and short term NP intensity. There was low quality evidence that a physical ergonomic intervention (e.g. arm board) was significantly more effective on the reduction of NP intensity at the long term than no ergonomic intervention. The results, however, cannot be generalised towards all working populations. Furthermore, most other studies were on NP, conducted among office workers and evaluated workstation adjustments. Moreover, the number of studies was limited, and populations, interventions, controls and outcomes were heterogeneous.