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S J Linton

Publications and source records attributed to S J Linton.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

A controlled study of the effect of neck school in medical secretaries.

The effect of "neck school" on neck and shoulder disorders was studied in medical secretaries. A neck school reinforced with compliance enhancing measures (group B) was compared with a traditional neck school (group A) and a control group (group C). The results show that ergonomical knowledge was good even before the secretaries attended the neck schools and that compliance was significantly higher for group B. When comparisons were made within groups some improvements on neck and shoulder fatigue and pain were noted, particularly for group B. When workload was controlled no significant group differences were found. No differences were noted for range of neck motion, or sick leave in any group. Our conclusion is that neck schools, despite good compliance, appear to be of limited clinical value for prevention of neck and shoulder disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Activities of daily living scale for patients with chronic pain.

10 questions measuring daily living activities of chronic pain patients were developed for 30 chronic pain patients. Test-retest reliability was .89, and internal consistency was .75. Validity, measured by global ratings (r = .63) and those by significant others (r = .77) was satisfactory. This Activities of Daily Living Scale seems to be reliable and valid for use in clinical and research settings.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1989

Risk factors in the psychosocial work environment for neck and shoulder pain in secretaries.

The relationship between psychologic work variables and reported neck and shoulder pain was examined among secretaries. A battery of questionnaires concerning the experienced psychologic work environment as well as musculoskeletal pain symptoms was completed by 420 secretaries at a large medical center. A relatively "poor" psychologic work environment was compared with an environment that was experienced as "good." A "poorly" experienced psychologic work environment was related to a higher frequency of neck and shoulder pain. The relative risk for frequent neck pain was 2.85 (95% confidence interval 1.28 to 6.32) and for frequent shoulder pain 3.32 (95% confidence interval 1.53 to 7.23). Furthermore, the subindexes of work content and social support at work were found to be related to pain, whereas no clear relationship was found for work demands. The results of this study demonstrate the possible importance of the psychologic work environment in the development of musculoskeletal pain disorders. Future investigations should replicate these findings as well as isolate specific mechanisms so that preventive measures may be instituted.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Low back schools. A critical review.

The purpose of this article is to review and evaluate the empirical literature concerning low back schools. Although the low back school is a popular method of dealing with the growing number of patients with back pain, a general lack of studies exists of the effectiveness of this intervention technique. The studies that have been conducted, moreover, often lack control conditions and appropriate measurement techniques. The goal of most schools is to increase "self-care" behaviors and thereby decrease other related problems, such as pain intensity and absenteeism. The literature, however, provides limited support for the idea that a low back school can influence variables such as the number of health care contacts, sick leave, work status, pain intensity or duration, activity level, or medication consumption. Whether the patient's level of knowledge improves as a result of attending the low back school is unclear. Some evidence suggests that patients' attitudes toward back care do change. We conclude, therefore, that more information is needed about the effects of low back schools so that they may be improved. A central concept of low back school programs that should be examined is patient compliance. How well patients comprehend the material presented in the low back school or whether the school results in behavioral changes in the participants remains to be determined.

Back Pain↗
PubMed1985

Relations between pain, anxiety, mood and muscle tension in chronic pain patients. A correlation study.

The relationship between psychological variables, particularly depressed mood and anxiety, and pain has received a good deal of attention. In this study, 16 chronic pain patients rated their mood, anxiety level, pain, muscle tension, and reclining time daily over a period of about 6 weeks. Correlations were calculated for each combination of variables for each individual patient. The results indicated a good deal of variability between patients. The majority of patients did have significant correlations for pain vs. mood, pain vs. anxiety, pain vs. reclining time, anxiety vs. muscle tension, anxiety vs. mood, and reclining time vs. mood. However, the size of the correlations was sometimes small, and some patients even occasionally had correlations in the opposite direction of that predicted. Overall, the data suggest that psychological variables are related to the experience of chronic pain, but that the size of the relationship may be smaller than previously thought. Furthermore, the high degree of individual variability needs to be stressed.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Controlling pain reports through operant conditioning: a laboratory demonstration.

Operant conditioning of pain reports was studied in two laboratory experiments. In the first one 5 subjects were given the same pain stimulus on 15 trials and their recorded pain ratings gave no systemic trends across subjects. 8 other subjects received the same pain tests but on some of the trials increases or decreases in pain ratings were verbally reinforced while the noxious stimulus was held constant across trials. Clear and significant differences between reinforced increases and decreases in pain reports were observed. In Exp. 2, 5 subjects were given neutral feedback and systematically decreasing levels of noxious stimulation, resulting in a good correlation between pain ratings and stimulation level. 5 subjects were provided reinforcement for increasing pain reports while the pain stimulus was systematically reduced. Increases in pain reports were observed simultaneously with large decreases in the level of the noxious stimulus. Results of these experiments support the operant conception of pain.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

A controlled study of the effects of applied relaxation and applied relaxation plus operant procedures in the regulation of chronic pain.

Chronic back/joint pain patients participated in a comparative study of relaxation and operant therapies for chronic pain. Patients were randomly assigned to: (1) a waiting-list control, or to either (2) an applied relaxation, or (3) an applied relaxation plus operant conditioning treatment programme. Waiting patients were subsequently randomly assigned to active treatment. The results indicated that the treatment groups tended to do significantly better than the waiting-list control group for pain, medicine use, activity, and depression, but there were few clear differences between the treatment groups. Applied relaxation plus the operant programme was significantly better than relaxation for medicine reduction, and applied relaxation was better than relaxation and operant conditioning for a patient evaluation of reaching treatment goals. Within-group and single-subject analyses indicated that there were significant improvements between pre- and post-tests for the treatment groups, but not for the waiting-list control group. Follow-up data indicated maintenance, and that applied relaxation had significantly lower pain ratings than applied relaxation plus operant conditioning. Taken as a whole, the results show that applied relaxation can produce significant decreases in pain, and that the addition of an operant programme does not improve pain reductions, but does tend to improve results with activity and especially medicine intake variables.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

A critical review of behavioural treatments for chronic benign pain other than headache.

Studies of the effectiveness of operant, relaxation, cognitive, and multimodal behavioural approaches to the treatment of chronic benign pain other than headache were evaluated. In general, the quality of the studies was poor, and most investigations lacked appropriate and adequate control conditions, outcome measures, and/or follow-ups. While outcome reports for all four behavioural treatments have been mainly positive, few data were found which conclusively demonstrate that any of the approaches are effective or that they are the treatment of choice. The data do, however, imply that behavioural approaches may help patients lead more normal and productive lives. Specifically, the literature suggests that: (1) the operant method leads to increased activity levels and decreased pain and drug intake, (2) the relaxation approach results in decreased EMG levels and some pain reductions, (3) the cognitive techniques are speculative at this time, and (4) the multimodal method regularly produces a variety of improvements, but the diversity of the treatments makes general statements about utility impossible. It is concluded that behavioural treatments for pain are warranted in the clinic and that research dealing with effectiveness and subsequently with component analyses of treatments is badly needed.

Back Pain↗