Pain, work, and the workplace: a topical review.

Safe and appropriate work is better for our health and well-being than worklessness,[80] but people who are not in employment because of ill-health or disability are more likely to have chronic pain than the employed.[50] It is important that people living with chronic pain are not left behind in the drive to enable sustainable employment. SP a sp Department of Psychology, Bath Spa University, Bath, United Kingdom SP b sp Centre for Pain Research, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom SP c sp Medical Research Council Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Health and Work, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom SP d sp HR Research Development, Institute for Employment Studies, Brighton, United Kingdom SP e sp The University of Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, New South Wales, Australia SP f sp ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Aging Research (CEPAR), University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia SP g sp Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada SP h sp Cochrane Pain, Palliative, and Supportive Care Review Groups, Oxford University Hospitals, Oxford, United Kingdom SP i sp Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium Corresponding author. Indeed, the results of several investigations have revealed that treatment-related reductions in pain-related psychological variables are prospectively associated with reductions in pain severity, emotional distress, and work disability.[39] The results of these and other studies have provided evidence that reductions in pain-related psychological factors are stronger predictors of successful return to work than reductions in pain severity. [Extracted from the article]