“My back hurts”… declare nearly half of the workers

In France, one in five sick leave is linked to back pain. This equates to 12 million working days lost each year.

One in five sick leave is linked to back pain. This equates to 12 million working days lost each year. However, companies have a real role to play in preventing the occurrence of low back pain.

franceinfo: Why these alarming figures on back pain and how can companies remedy it?

Sarah Lemoine: Low back pain, which is sometimes called lumbago or “back pain”, is this intense pain felt in the lower back. “Between the 12th vertebra and the gluteal fold”, soberly specifies the High Authority of Health. It is sometimes associated with sciatica, which is not pleasant either.

In the latest Public Health France survey, we learn that among workers, 42% of men, and 48% of women, reported suffering from back pain in 2021, during the last 12 months. All socio-professional categories and all sectors are affected, but not in the same proportions.

Men who have back pain mainly work in manufacturing, construction, healthcare, and agriculture. Women with back pain are over-represented in water management, waste management, transportation, warehousing, healthcare and agriculture. Farmers, workers and employees are more affected than managers, even if no one escapes it.

What is the employer’s responsibility?

His responsibility is to limit or eliminate the factors that cause back pain in his company. It is not always easy to understand, because the causes can be multiple, explains Laurent Kerangueven, expert at the National Institute for the Prevention of Accidents at Work and Occupational Diseases (INRS).

There are activities that involve carrying heavy things, those that vibrate the body, restrictive postures or even sitting all day. This is combined with psychosocial risks, stress for example, or job dissatisfaction.

Are companies taking action?

Companies are tackling the issue, but not always by approaching it globally. However, eliminating the factors that cause back pain requires thinking about the way in which work is organized and carried out in practice, underlines the INRS.

Businesses can be supported and helped financially andThey have every interest in it. The percentage of workplace accidents linked to low back pain increased between 2005 and 2017. It went from 13 to 20%. Among the reasons are the intensification of work, productivity and the aging of the working population.