A new pilot study conducted with assembly workers at the Ford Motor Company in Louisville, KY focused on acute, work-related low back pain. Results of that study indicate that high-touch Integrative Medicine (IM) therapies can help employees manage back pain without the costly medications typically associated with managing their pain.
Back pain is one of the leading causes of job-related disability among U.S. workers, and contributes to lost productivity and high medical and pharmaceutical costs for employers and their employees. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has estimated that chronic employee pain costs employers as much as $100 billion a year in direct medical expenses, lost workdays, reduced productivity, compensation payments, and legal charges.
This new study found that Integrative Medicine utilizing acupuncture and mind/body therapies, in conjunction with conventional medicine, provided the same outcomes as conventional back pain therapies, but reduced the use of pain medications among participants by 58 percent.
Conducted at the Ford Motor Kentucky Truck Plant, the study included a pilot group of assembly line employees diagnosed with low back pain. This group was divided into two subgroups and both groups received care at the onsite Ford clinic. One group received conventional pain management therapies, including pain medications. The second group utilized integrative therapies, including acupuncture and relaxation/meditation CDs, which were provided by Healthyroads, a subsidiary of American Specialty Health (ASH), to manage stress and pain. Both of the groups received treatments over a six-week period, with a 12-week follow-up.