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Occupational therapist: GPs need more support to help back-pain sufferers

Wednesday 4th November 2009

Occupational therapy job worker and researcher Carolyn Coole has commented on her recent study showing that GPs did not take responsibility for helping back pain patients return to work.

A survey of 440 doctors conducted by the University of Nottingham showed that 77 per cent did not see it as their duty to make sure those suffering with back pain went back to work as soon as possible, the BBC reported.

Ms Coole remarked: "The current government expectation that GPs are able to successfully [manage this role] may be unrealistic."

She also told the news provider that GPs would need additional training in order to help patients, as working on fitness is not something they regularly engage with at the moment.

One of the main causes of work absence in the UK is back pain, with around 34,000 people in the east Midlands suffering from the disorder in 2004-05, thought to be caused or worsened by their work environment, according to the University of Nottingham.

Ms Coole was awarded the £132,000, three-year primary care fellowship in early 2008 by the Arthritis Research Campaign to look at new and more effective ways in which to deal with the issue.

Written by Mathew Horton