The association of physiotherapy and opioid use with duration of compensated time loss for workers with low back pain

Objective: To determine patterns of physiotherapy and opioid use among compensated workers with low back pain (LBP), factors associated with these, and their association with time loss. Methods: Accepted Victorian and South Australian workers' compensation claims, services, and medicines data for LBP claims lodged June 30, 2010-July 1, 2015. Descriptive statistics, multinomial logistic, and Cox regression were used to determine usage groups, their predictors, and effect of these on time loss. Results: Of 15,728 claims, 24.4% received no services, 3.6% received opioids only, 43.3% received physiotherapy only, and 28.8% received both opioids and physiotherapy. Sex, age, occupation, remoteness, jurisdiction, and socioeconomic status were significantly associated with usage groups. Using opioids and physiotherapy had the longest time loss. Conclusions: Any services/medicine usage was associated with increased time loss and was longest for combined physiotherapy and opioids.