A study of back injuries in Tennessee in 1978

The purpose was to study back injuries in the State of Tennessee utilizing an experimental model for the collection and analysis of data. The experimental model included a data collection instrument based on a criteria coding and a statistical design. Jurors were selected who were experienced professionals familiar with the back injury problem.

Three research questions were designed for statistical testing. They were as follows: (1) Are there differences in the proportions of back injuries among the different age categories?; (2) Is there a correlation between age and days lost from work due to back injury disability?; (3) Are there differences in the mean days lost from work among the types of accident categories?

The State of Tennessee, Department of Labor, agreed to the random selection of 300 workers' compensation claims involving back injuries. The sample of claims was used in the selection of variables to test the hypotheses.

From the analyses of data, the following conclusions of the findings were made:

1. There were no differences in the proportions of back injuries among the different age categories. It was noted that employees undar the age of 20 and over 60 have fewer injuries in proportion to other age brackets.

2. There was no correlation between age and days lost from work due to back injury disability.

There were no differences in the mean days lost from work among the type of accident categories.

Additional questions were researched to better delineate the back injury claim. The sample of back injury claims was 26.5 percent of the total claims. The average cost of the back injury claim was $2,60l.97. Compensation paid account for 67 percent of the average claims cost. Almost 59 percent of the claimants were between the age of 20-40.

Utilizing selected variables, it was demonstrated that no association between workshift and type of accident exists; type of accident and days lost; part of body and type of accident; nor between type of accident and days lost from work. There was a high degree of association between days lost and percent of disability rating.

Surgery was performed in 5 percent of the claims with an average cost of $9,438.67 and 129 days from work. Litigated cases accounted for 15 percent of the claims with an average cost of $11,727.35.

It was concluded that the experimental model was successful in the study of closed back injury claims.