title: Rehabilitation that works--vocational outcomes following rehabilitation for occupational musculoskeletal pain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the short term vocational outcome for accident compensation claimaints with disabling musculoskeletal pain following a comprehensive, interdisciplinary rehabilitation programme.
  
  
  METHODS
  A telephone follow-up audit of clients who had undertaken a rehabilitation programme characterised by a cognitive-behavioural approach with self-management, reconditioning, vocational rehabilitation and psychological pain management.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 62 clients who had undergone a rehabilitation programme, we obtained follow-up information on 49 (79%). These were predominantly male, aged in their mid 30s, manual workers with low back pain and a median sick leave of twelve months. At a median of five months a vocational success was achieved in 75%: working full time (47%), part time (12%) or actively looking for work (16%). Of those in work, 48% went back to the same job, 7% went back to the same job but with a different employer and 15% went to a different job that used the same skills. Logistic regression analysis showed that duration of work disability was the major predictor of vocational success (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.78, for a difference of twelve months).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the uncontrolled nature of these results, it is likely that the rehabilitation programme had a significant impact in getting compensation claimants back to work. Only a minority require substantive retraining and early intervention is associated with a better outcome.
authors.affiliation: Specialist Rehabilitation Services, Hutt Valley Health, Lower Hutt and Rehabilitation Teaching and Research Unit, Wellington School of Medicine. medwjt@leeds.ac.uk
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gow
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: McNaughton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010146:Pain / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational