A three-year follow-up of 195 reported occupational over-exertion injuries

Abstract

Three years after reporting occupational over-exertion injuries, 181 persons took part in a follow-up study by questionnaire. The objective was to study these persons with respect to their current status of health, well-being and functional capacity and when possible compare collected data to reference data from the "normal population". The studied group reported more physical and psychological symptoms than the reference groups. More than 50% reported difficulties in activities of daily living. Long sick-leaves in the year following the reported injury were associated with remaining pain and low rate of employment. Three years after the injury, 109 persons were in employment. Almost one third of these had changed occupations and now had more varied tasks than at the time of the report. Those whose work loads had been reduced after the injury, did not report less musculoskeletal disorders than others. However, access to social support was positively related with health and psychological well-being.