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Compensable back pain and migrants
Author(s) -
Hewson Daphne,
Halcrow Jean,
Brown Cotin Selby
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1987.tb133455.x
Subject(s) - vulnerability (computing) , referral , ethnic group , rehabilitation , medicine , back injury , migrant workers , back pain , psychology , demography , physical therapy , family medicine , sociology , alternative medicine , computer security , pathology , economic growth , computer science , anthropology , economics
Ten years of cases of compensable back pain from a rehabilitation centre were reviewed for evidence that is relevant to the strongly negative stereotypes that are held commonly about migrant workers. The prevalence of migrant workers with back injuries was found to be similar to that in the occupations with higher accident liabilities in the surrounding municipalities. The relative proportion of musculoligamentous injuries and the more objectively confirmable back injuries was not related to the country of birth. Better predictors of treatment outcome were: the time that had elapsed between the injury and admission to the Centre; whether the referral was direct or indirect after the previous treatment; and the degree of fluency in English. It is concluded that the stereotypes that describe migrant workers as accident‐prone or malingerers cannot be supported and that the vulnerability of migrant workers to the “accident‐victim syndrome” can be accounted for without reference to ethnic characteristics.