A
nasty, critical boss can be a real pain in the back, it seems.
Researchers at
Ohio State University say that people most distressed by a supervisor's criticism are
likely to use their muscles in ways that could lead to back injuries.
And those most
affected, they say, generally are introverts and intuitors, or people who get information
from their gut feelings rather than their surroundings.
"This is
the first step in explaining why people with certain personality types -- those who are
introverts or who don't like performing tasks again and again -- are more prone to back
injury," says William Marras, a professor of industrial, welding and systems
engineering at Ohio State.
"If you
look at the literature, we've always known a lot about lifting and that it can cause
damage to the spine," Marras says. "But when it comes to the connection between
stress and injury to the spine, there are only hypotheses. We were after a biomechanical
link as to how stress could affect the back."
To find that
link, researchers gave 25 volunteer college students tests to determine their personality
type, such as extrovert or introvert. Then each volunteer lifted boxes while wearing a
back-muscle monitor. During the first half of the experiment, the supervisor played
students' favorite music and offered words of encouragement and praise. But during the
second half, the supervisor falsely criticized the students, saying the director was
unhappy about the experiment.He also rigged the monitor to make it look as if students
weren't lifting correctly, even when they were.
Blood
pressures, and thus stress levels, rose in all but two volunteers, the researchers say.
But the introverts and intuitors, they say, began using their muscles in a way that could
lead to injury.
"The
criticism just rolled right off the extroverts, but introverts and intuitors changed the
way they used their muscles," Marras says. "Lifting became much more
stressful."
"I
think the results of this study give people a good reason to treat others in the workplace
well," he says.
"It's
important to have a management structure that treats people well." Findings appear in
the current issue of Spine.
63% of the
adult population will suffer from back pain at some time during their lives. It's the
single greatest reason for workplace absenteeism, resulting in 119 million lost working
days each year. In the USA, where the study was carried out, US Bureau of Labour
Statistics show that:
- More than a
million workers suffer back injuries each year.
- Back injuries
account for 25 per cent of all workplace injuries but 40 per cent of workers' compensation
claims.
- Four out of
five back injuries occur in the lumbar, or lower, area of the spine.
- Three out of
four injuries occur while employees are lifting.
Most injuries
occur because of the amount of weight that is being lifted or the way a person lifts,
Marras says, "but there still is the group of people this doesn't include."
Other experts agree that a mind-body connection comes into play with back pain and injury.
"This
study confirms the Bigos study on Boeing employees and back pain [in 1991]," says Dr
David Schechter, a sports medicine and pain specialist in Beverly Hills who studies the
relationship between personality and chronic back pain.
"That
study looked at which factors predisposed people to back injuries. They thought it would
be muscle strength, but it was personality and job satisfaction."
Dr Purnendu
Gupta, an orthopaedic spine surgeon at the University of Chicago Spine Centre, says the
relationship between back injury, stress and personality is "an important issue that
has not had much attention."
"I think
we're becoming more savvy about the workplace, but the personality issue is a new
perspective," Gupta says. "It's clear that certain patients can be affected more
significantly by pain. As a clinician, I try to understand personality because it can
affect how patients react to pain and how they recover."
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