Psychosocial Risk Factors for Low Back Pain and Absenteeism among Slovenian Professional Drivers

INTRODUCTIONCurrent findings indicate that 60 to 90 percent of the world's population is confronted with low back pain at least once in their life. People are commonly confronted with low back pain at the prime of life between 20 and 50 years of age, at peak of mental and physical abilities and during the most active period of life. Low back pain is widely acknowledged as an important health and socioeconomic problem which plagues a large segment of the population in industrialized countries. Frequent attacks of back pain are the reason for short- or long-term absences from work and premature disability retirement, causing a large economic burden for both patients and society as a whole (1-5).Waddell (6) classified low back pain as a medical and health disaster of the last century. The reason for this is attributed primarily to dealing with back pain, according to the medical model which is followed by the entire health care of western countries. This model is mainly based on the recognition of signs and symptoms, forming a diagnosis, treating a patient with physical therapy, and anticipating a positive treatment outcome. But the model ignores the human biological, psychological and social determinants. Mainly due to the interdependence of various symptoms, biological and psychological effects and finally social risk factors that determine an individual's health and the effects of disease, an individual with low back pain must be looked at holistically. The biopsychosocial treatment model offers this vantage point.Causes of low back pain should not always be perceived as only functional and organic disorders, as they also relate to the personality structure of the individual, his/her views, attitudes, and lifestyle (6). Low back pain is often associated with stress, which is a response of the organism to a real or imaginary danger, characterized by increasing awareness of bodily sensations, severity of pain and a lower pain threshold. In a stressful situation, a person is much more concerned about his/her health, experiences more pain and is more sensitive. A person experiences stress when threatening events exceed coping and defence capabilities. The perception of and dealing with a particular situation is reflected in the physical and emotional responses (7-10). For these reasons we can expect better rehabilitation outcome when we considered the patient as a whole and take into account the fact that when experiencing pain, physical problems cannot be separated from mental ones. Patients definitely need physical treatment for their physical problems, but more important is the help and support when coping with pain and the commencement of normal activity and behaviour (6).After reviewing the existing literature on the topic of psychosocial risk factors in different professions, we note that professional drivers are a high-risk group for low back pain. The causes of their pain-state can be understood as the result of their specific lifestyle (7, 8). Our objective was to determine the most common psychosocial risk factors for absenteeism and the extent to which back pain occurs among Slovenian professional drivers as result of different psychosocial risk factors.MATERIALS AND METHODSSample of Professional DriversEmpirical research was limited to employees in the geographical area of the Republic of Slovenia. Fieldwork was conducted from October to December 2013. With the help of the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia and the Association of Drivers and Mechanics of Slovenia, our study sample was based on the lists of employed professional drivers. We sent a cover letter and invitation to participate in the study to 350 randomly selected companies. Our sample includes 275 professional drivers. The survey was anonymous and drivers decided to participate voluntarily. The purpose of the survey was presented to them beforehand.Respondents (93.8% of men and 6.2% of women) were aged from 23 to 66 years (mean 41. …