title: Models of return to work for musculoskeletal disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Musculoskeletal pain disorders are the most prevalent, costly, disabling, and commonly researched conditions in the workplace, yet the development of overarching conceptual models of return to work (RTW) in these conditions has been lagging.
  
  
  METHODS
  A critical review of the literature was performed using multiple medical and health search engines in order to provide an evaluation of the evolution and the state of the art of health and disability models with a focus on specific models of RTW.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main tenets, implications for diagnosis, treatment, and disability compensation, are the key perspectives analyzed for the following specific models of RTW: biomedical, psychosocial, forensic, ecological/case management, biopsychosocial, and two more recent models developed by the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Future development of models that are truly transdisciplinary, and address temporal and multidimensional aspects of occupational disability, remains a goal.
authors.affiliation: Deparment of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education, The University of British Columbia, Scarfe Library Annex, Room 297, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Colmbia, Canada, V6T 1Z2. ischultz@telus.net
authors.forename: Izabela Z
authors.initials: IZ
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: Anna W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Stowell
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Feuerstein
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gatchel
mesh_terms: D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010146:Pain / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D018582:Sick Leave